New Version of REST-based Open Data Protocol (OData) Approved as OASIS Standard

Dell, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, SAP, SDL, and Others Collaborate on Standard that Enables an Open, Programmable Web

18 June 2020 – The OASIS open standards consortium announced that its members have approved Open Data Protocol (OData) Version 4.01 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. OData helps create a more open, programmable Web, and simplifies the querying and sharing of data across applications for re-use in the enterprise, cloud, and mobile devices.

OData enables the creation and consumption of REST-based data services which allow resources, identified using Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and defined in a data model, to be published and edited by Web clients using simple HTTP messages.

OData Version 4.01 adopts patterns to feel more like custom REST APIs, and defines new patterns in a number of areas. These enhancements can be categorized into:

● Simplified syntax and payloads

● Extended query patterns

● Enhanced update capabilities

● New JSON Metadata and Batch Formats

Also approved were three new versions of supporting specifications: OData JSON Format, OData Common Schema Definition Language (CSDL) JSON Representation, and OData Common Schema Definition Language (CSDL) XML Representation.

“OData 4.01 incorporates developer feedback to introduce cleaner patterns, while at the same time addressing a number of common feature requests,” said OASIS OData co-chair Michael Pizzo of Microsoft. “Looking forward, we are using the patterns introduced in OData 4.01 to define a lightweight profile for implementing RESTful APIs.”

As part of this effort, the OData Technical Committee is creating an OASIS Open Repository to support the community development and adoption of lightweight REST-based APIs based on this profile. The open repository will be available and open to contributions in early July.

OData co-chair Ralf Handl of SAP added, “OData 4.01 is a fully compatible increment, reflecting seven years of experience with using OData in enterprise software. OData is an extremely powerful REST protocol that has resulted in richer experiences and more interoperable solutions.”

Support for OData Version 4.01

Microsoft
“Microsoft Graph uses OData to provide our customers a single unified API across Microsoft 365, which includes services such as Teams, Outlook, Azure Active Directory, Intune, Windows 10 and more. We appreciate the hard work of the OASIS OData Technical Committee and the developer community who helped shape OData 4.01. Our developers appreciate the simplified API patterns introduced in OData 4.01, and we are already building upon some of the new features like the JSON batch format and bulk operations.”
— Alex Simons, Corporate Vice President Program Management, Microsoft

SAP
“OData provides an important technology foundation that powers SAP’s User Experience. The rich metadata in OData combines with the SAP Fiori design system to create consistent interaction patterns that let our customers run across a wide range of business systems and technology platforms, providing end users a web or native mobile experience.”
— Alexander Lingg, Head of SAP User Experience

Additional Information
OASIS OData Technical Committee: https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/odata

About OASIS

One of the most respected, member-driven standards bodies in the world, OASIS offers projects—including open source projects—a path to standardization and de jure approval for reference in international policy and procurement. OASIS members include major multinational companies, SMEs, government agencies, universities, research institutions, consulting groups, and individuals are represented.

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