Utility APIs for List and Document blocks

Several seeded REST APIs are available to help you show data in List and Document blocks safely and securely, so you don't have to write REST APIs.

These APIs typically start with function-data/* and accept one or more parameters. All these API calls use the GET method only.

When defining your List and Document blocks, you can specify the REST API endpoint to retrieve the data. This is where you specify the function-data REST API you want to use.

These APIs include a functionName path parameter, the code name of an Application (FND) Function, or Permission. So the REST API can query this Data Object to return data, you must define the Application Function or Permission with a Data Object against it, which is nearly always a database view. You must include the Function or Permission in a Permission Set (or Menu) and grant access so that the appropriate users can access it.

When you grant Permission Sets access, you can specify an Instance Set, a WHERE predicate applied to restrict the set of rows returned by the Data Object.

The REST API builds the SQL query as follows:

SELECT *

FROM <database view on the Data Object linked to the Function or Permission>

WHERE <Instance Sets defined on the Grant>

Registering your custom database view

New database views you create on the database aren't be available as the source of a Data Object until you register them. Registering a database view creates metadata in standard Oracle tables such as fnd_views and fnd_view_columns.

You can use our helper utility to register your view. Change the below parameters and run this PL/SQL script:

BEGIN
  xxas_fnd_dictionary_pkg.add_view
   (p_application_short_name => xxas_util_pkg.app
   ,p_view_name              => 'YOUR_DATABASE_VIEW_NAME_V'
   ,p_description            => 'YOUR_DATABASE_VIEW_NAME_V');
END;    
/COMMIT;

Defining Grants

You create grants using Oracle-standard pages, such as Functional Administrator: Security: Grants or User Management.

Before creating grants, you will need to have already:

1. Created a Permission Set and included your Function or Permission.
2. Created relevant Instance Sets to restrict the rows a user sees in the underlying Data Object. You create Instance Sets using the Functional Developer role (you cannot create Instance Sets through Functional Administrator).

The Grant pages can be a little confusing, so here are some tips on defining grants for use with the function-data REST APIs:

• When naming grants, we use the naming standard <Role Name> - <Permission Set> (<Instance Set>). For example, Applaud Employee Self Service Role - Applaud Absences (belonging to logged-on person).
• The Grantee Type is nearly always a Group of Users, and the Grantee the name of a role, such as Applaud Employee Self Service Role.
• You can grant it to All Users, but we don't recommend you do this. For example, external iProcurement users would gain access - is that what you'd want? Usually, it's better to control through roles.
• You can grant to Specific Users, but this is often a bad idea because of the maintenance overhead. You could grant it to just yourself for testing purposes but don't forget: you might think something is working fine, but it might be only you who can see it.
• Always leave Operating Unit and Responsibility blank.
• Always set the Data Object to the same Data Object-defined on the Function or Permission inside the Permission Set. This must match; the Grant will not work at all otherwise.
• The defining of the Data Object Context, the Data Context Type is usually Instance Set. All Rows mean that every user granted access can see every row in the Data Object. This might be the case for something like an Announcements list, but in most cases, you want to restrict the rows based on the user's context, for example, just absences for the logged-on person.
• You will not need to use Instance Set parameters.
• The Set is the name of the Permission Set that includes your Function or Permission. This is a good chance for you to double-check the Data Object on the Grant matches the Data Object on the permission inside the Permission Set.

function-data REST APIs