Setup EZWeb server and API calls

[nmartinez@bristolind.com]

Hi all,
Looking for some input on the following:
We have a custom ERP system running on PVXPlus (latest) PRO version hosted on RedHat Linux Enterprise version 8.6.  Need to setup some API calls from our custom ERP system to TULIP.  We were advised to buy one (1) PVXPlus WEB version for Linux, so we could setup EZWeb server and use this for the API calls [after all other network configuration allowing connectivity from TULIP and our RedHat Linux server (EZWeb server) are done]
Also, we use PVXPlus SIMPLE Client server, so ALL our endpoints are using WindX (more info just in case) to access our ERP data.
Has anyone worked on API calls and EZWeb (using PVXPlus) that could share some of their experiences with us?
Thank you!

[michaelgreer]

If I am reading your question correctly, you do not need EZ Web at all. Your pxplus pro will include *plus/web/request.  This will easily allow you to send in a url and a payload (for a post endpoint).  You can hit both REST and SOAP endpoints and receive the responses.

[Loren Doornek]

As on the previous reply from Michael Greer, it doesn't seem to me that you need EZWeb at all.  You will be making API calls *from* your PXPlus system *to* the TULIP system to retrieve data, correct?  If that's the case, there are several ways to do so, and EZWeb isn't needed.

- You can use *plus/web/request as Michael noted.
- You can also use "curl" on the Linux server by opening a channel with the "<" character (input from). For example: OPEN (1)"<curl www.google.com"  Using curl is often helpful since a lot of web API's provide examples using curl, and curl handles a lot of the overhead with security/SSL/etc.
- You can communicate directly with the web service using TCP sockets in PXPlus.  For example: OPEN (1)"[tcp]www.google.com;80".  This is a little more difficult since it requires you to build the HTTP requests.

[Mike King]

If you are only sending from your application to a web based application then the *plus/web/request routine can be used to provide this and is included with all current versions of PxPlus.

If however you are wanting a web based application to submit requests to your application then you will need something like EZWeb or you can use something like the Apache CGI interface. 

As a side note I reviewed your initial request to us regarding your requirements to which our support department suggested EZweb or Apache.  In your request you indicated you wanted Tulip to submit API calls to your application which would in turn receive them and respond.  That is the opposite of what you are inquiring about here. Which type of functionality are you looking for? (i.e. Is your application going to send requests to Tulip or vice-versa?)

[nmartinez@bristolind.com]

If I am reading your question correctly, you do not need EZ Web at all. Your pxplus pro will include *plus/web/request.  This will easily allow you to send in a url and a payload (for a post endpoint).  You can hit both REST and SOAP endpoints and receive the responses.

Thank you, Michael for the input!!  I forgot to mention that we need to SEND API calls to TULIP and RECEIVE API calls from TULIP.

[nmartinez@bristolind.com]

As on the previous reply from Michael Greer, it doesn't seem to me that you need EZWeb at all.  You will be making API calls *from* your PXPlus system *to* the TULIP system to retrieve data, correct?  If that's the case, there are several ways to do so, and EZWeb isn't needed.

- You can use *plus/web/request as Michael noted.
- You can also use "curl" on the Linux server by opening a channel with the "<" character (input from). For example: OPEN (1)"<curl www.google.com"  Using curl is often helpful since a lot of web API's provide examples using curl, and curl handles a lot of the overhead with security/SSL/etc.
- You can communicate directly with the web service using TCP sockets in PXPlus.  For example: OPEN (1)"[tcp]www.google.com;80".  This is a little more difficult since it requires you to build the HTTP requests.

Thank you, Loren!  As I mentioned on my post to Michael, we need to SEND and RECEIVE API calls FROM/TO Tulip.

[nmartinez@bristolind.com]

If you are only sending from your application to a web based application then the *plus/web/request routine can be used to provide this and is included with all current versions of PxPlus.

If however you are wanting a web based application to submit requests to your application then you will need something like EZWeb or you can use something like the Apache CGI interface. 

As a side note I reviewed your initial request to us regarding your requirements to which our support department suggested EZweb or Apache.  In your request you indicated you wanted Tulip to submit API calls to your application which would in turn receive them and respond.  That is the opposite of what you are inquiring about here. Which type of functionality are you looking for? (i.e. Is your application going to send requests to Tulip or vice-versa?)

Thank you, Mike!!  You are correct, I forgot to include that we need to SEND/RECEIVE APIs from our custom ERP To Tulip and Vice-Versa.   Already sent an e-mail to Sales to get a link to buy PXPlus Web licenses (one Linux and one Windows).  Will use the Windows on a test environment and Linux on production environment.