Rollbase Integration with Google Apps

Today we launched the first integration of Rollbase with Google Apps, press release below. For a demonstration video see: http://www.rollbase.com/support/googleapps.shtml

Rollbase Announces Integration with Google Apps
Delivers Google Calendar Synchronization, Gmail and Docs Integration for all Rollbase Applications

SARATOGA, Calif., November 24, 2008 -- Rollbase, Inc., an innovator in Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technology for business users, today announced the delivery of three new capabilities integrated with the Google Apps(TM) suite of communication and collaboration products. The integration of the Rollbase platform with the products from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) enables companies of any size to reap the benefits of cloud computing (no hardware or software to download, install or maintain), and allows any Rollbase-native application to become integrated with any customer's Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs accounts.

"We are happy to have quickly leveraged the open Google APIs to bring powerful collaboration features to the Rollbase platform," said Matt Robinson, founder and CEO of Rollbase. "Now any application created with Rollbase can automatically use Gmail to send email, synchronize any event information with Google Calendar, and export application data directly into Google Docs & Spreadsheets, increasing the productivity of any Rollbase and Google Apps users."

Google Apps Integrations for Rollbase

Rollbase designed, developed and integrated the following three solutions with Google products:

-- Rollbase and GMail(TM) - to use the customer's GMail account to send any outbound email from within Rollbase, and storing that email in the user's Sent Items for historical reference within GMail.

-- Rollbase and Google Calendar(TM) - to enable the synchronization of all types of events in any Rollbase application with each user's Google Calendar

-- Rollbase and Google Docs(TM) - for sharing Rollbase data views and reports and making it available to internal and external audiences through Google Spreadsheets

Each of these integrations is now available to every Rollbase customer at no additional cost. For more information and a demo video about these new features see: http://www.rollbase.com/support/googleapps.shtml

About Rollbase

Rollbase is an on-demand application development and delivery platform for businesses to rapidly find, create, customize and share web-based applications using point and click, drag and drop tools within a standard Web browser. Rollbase brings the power of rapid application development to business users, IT professionals, and Web developers who may not have the time, resources or expertise to create on-demand applications using traditional software development methods. As a state of the art Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Cloud Computing Platform, Rollbase enables businesses to focus on application innovation rather than the software and hardware infrastructure behind it. In conjunction with the Rollbase Platform, the Rollbase Application Directory is an on-demand application ecosystem where users can browse, test drive, and install business applications built and published by experienced Rollbase users and partners with a single click. Rollbase requires only a browser and an Internet connection. Founded in August 2007, Rollbase is privately held and funded by angel investors. For more information please visit http://www.rollbase.com.

Google, Google Apps, GMail, Google Calendar and Google Docs are trademarks of Google Inc.

SOURCE: Rollbase, Inc.

SOAP and REST API Examples in PHP, Java and Excel

For Rollbase developers working with the SOAP and REST APIs we've published two new documents with code examples showing each API in action. See: Documentation & Tutorials

REST Examples in PHP

Download: rollbase_REST_examples.pdf

The REST API Examples document contains examples of using each method of the Rollbase REST API in PHP. Because some Rollbase API methods require POST requests we use curl. For example the following is a PHP method that can be used to make REST requests using curl:

function restCall($request, $method, $pbody="") {
       //Initialize a curl session
       $session = curl_init($request);

       /* You then set any curl options that you might need. curl
       options are listed at
       http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.curl-setopt.php. In this
       case, we tell curl that we don't want the HTTP headers returned,
       but we do want the request data returned: */

       // Tell curl not to return headers, but do return the response
       curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);

       curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

       if($method == 'POST') {//For post method notify curl
              // Tell curl to use HTTP POST
              curl_setopt ($session, CURLOPT_POST, true);

              // Tell curl that this is the body of the POST
              curl_setopt ($session, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $pbody);
       }
       
       //send request
       $response = curl_exec($session);

       //close session
       curl_close($session);
       
       //this is the response(xml)
       return $response;
}

Now we can invoke any Rollbase REST API method easily in PHP. For example, login is the first REST call that should be made to Rollbase in order to establish an API session and retrieve a session ID. To login to a Rollbase account with username TestUser and password mypass our PHP code might look like:

       $uname = ‘TestUser’;
       $pword = ‘mypass’;
       $request =
        'https://www.rollbase.com/rest/api/login?loginName='.$uname.'&password='.$pword;
       $response= restCall($request, "GET");

Here we are using the above restCall function to make the request. The XML response can now be processed to obtain the session ID. See Rollbase REST API Examples for more...

SOAP Examples in Java

Download: rollbase_SOAP_examples.pdf

The SOAP API Examples document contains examples of using each method of the Rollbase SOAP API in PHP. In addition it also contains an introduction to using the SOAP API with Java using Eclipse WTP (Web Tools Platform) as well as Microsoft Excel.

Eclipse WTP can create appropriate Java stubs by reading and parsing the Rollbase WSDL file available at http://www.rollbase.com/webapi/wsdl/rollbase.wsdl. These stubs can then be used to integrate any of your Java applications with Rollbase.

In our example we use Eclipse WTP to dynamically generate all of the Java classes necessary to develop a client application using the SOAP API:

SOAP Examples in Excel

As with other Microsoft Office applications, Excel provides the ability to use SOAP-based web services. Therefore it is possible to use the Rollbase SOAP API through an Excel spreadsheet and integrate it with your Rollbase account.

Calling a web service in Excel is similar to calling a built-in Excel function, in that you supply information (as arguments) and retrieve a result to display in a particular cell.

Following a few easy steps Excel allows you to point to a WSDL from which it can automatically generate Visual Basic code corresponding to each method defined in the API:

Once this is done, you can then use these methods in your own custom Excel functions. Creating custom functions in Excel is a straightforward exercise using Visual Basic. For example, to call the login method we might create the following function:

       Function rb_login(uname As String, pass As String)
              Dim clientObj As New clsws_IWebServicesService
              Dim session_id As String
              rb_login = clientObj.wsm_login(uname, pass
       End Function

See Rollbase SOAP API Examples for more...

Live SOAP & REST Demos

This week we launched two new PHP-based portals for testing both the SOAP and REST APIs live using your Rollbase account.

To access these examples head over to:
http://apidemo.rollbase.com/apidemo/index.php

When you select either SOAP API or REST API, you can login to your account and run most of the API methods available without writing code to get a feel for how API interaction works:

For example, when you are logged into the REST API, if you select the Create method and provide the integration name of an object in your account (such as 'meeting'), a form will be created for you on the fly with all of your object's fields so you can create a new record:

These API portals are a portion of the recent work we've done to document and expose the integration and extension capabilities of Rollbase a bit more.

Next up: Code examples and documentation covering the use of Rollbase SOAP and REST APIs in PHP, Java and Microsoft Excel.

New Rollbase REST API and updates to SOAP API

REST API

This weekend we released the initial version of the Rollbase REST API. Documentation is available here:
http://www.rollbase.com/rest/docs/REST_API.pdf

The Rollbase REST API is designed to enable integration between the Rollbase platform and
external systems via REST calls. In order to use this API the client must have a valid Rollbase
user account with login credentials: username and password. These credentials must be supplied
as parameters to the login method, the first REST call to Rollbase, which is required to establish
an API session. This call will return a session id, which must be used as the first parameter in all
subsequent API calls. To end an API session, the logout method should always be used.

The Rollbase REST API uses the same permissions mechanism as the standard Rollbase user
interface. API users must have permission to view, create, update, or delete records in order to
perform these actions via API calls. Permissions cannot bet set via the API. They can only be set
by an Administrator using the Rollbase user interface in the Setup area.

Each REST method can be accessed through URLs of the form:
https://www.rollbase.com/rest/api/{method_name}

Parameters to methods can be supplied as URL parameters for GET calls or in the HTTP request
for POST calls. The Rollbase REST API will respond with an XML document containing the result
of the call or an error message.

Example of a GET call:
https://www.rollbase.com/rest/api/login?loginName=JohnSmith&password=welcome

Response with success:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<resp status="ok">
<sessionId>rest-433533393144236162</sessionId>
</resp>

Response with error:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<resp status="fail">
<err>Login session is not found</err>
</resp>

REST API Methods:

login
Performs a user login and initiates an API session. This method must be called prior to any other
API call to retrieve a session id.

logout
Terminates the specified API session. This method should be called to explicitly end each API session.

getObjectDef
Retrieves the full description of a Rollbase Object Definition as an XML document (the XML Schema Definition for the object definition document format can be found here: http://www.rollbase.com/webapi/wsdl/objectDescription.xsd

search
Performs a full-text search in the Rollbase database. The search query has the same syntax as
that used in the standard Rollbase interface. (For more information on search syntax, see the
Rollbase User Guide or the online Help system.)

getUpdated
Retrieves an array of record ids of a specified object type, which were either created or updated
within the given date/time interval.

getDataObj
Retrieves all field data for a given record.

getDataField
Retrieves the value of a single field from a specific record.

getBinaryData
Retrieves the binary data (file attachment) associated with a particular file field from a specific
record.

getRelationships
Retrieves an array of related record ids for a given object and one of its relationships.

create
Creates a new record via a POST request containing an XML document with object name and fields for
the new record.

update
Updates an existing record via a POST request containing an XML document with valid record id and data fields to be updated. You only need to include the fields that should be changed, all fields not included will remain unchanged.

delete
Moves the specified record to the Recycle Bin.

SOAP API Updates

Several updates have been made to the SOAP API since its initial release in March including fixes for setBinaryData and working with createdBy and updatedBy fields

SOAP API documentation is available here:
http://www.rollbase.com/webapi/wsdl/WebServicesAPI.pdf

WSDL available here:
http://www.rollbase.com/webapi/wsdl/rollbase.wsdl

Stay tuned for live examples and tutorials using the REST and SOAP APIs with PHP, Java and Excel.

April 5th Updates: Integration Connectors, Default Field Values, Multiple Sort By's

In addition to beta pricing and the new Rollbase billing application (more info in an upcoming post), this Saturday's update also included a number of new features such as:

Rollbase Connectors: Integration On-Demand

As the Rollbase platform evolves integration begins to take a more prominent role and the past few weeks have involved the design of an initial Connectors framework for packaging out-of-the-box integration capabilities for a number of external systems (third party SaaS apps, local or hosted enterprise apps, database and file servers, etc)

Connectors are prepackaged configurable integration modules built on top of the Rollbase Web API to communicate with various external systems. All Connectors can be configured to run periodically every N Days, Weeks, or Months.

While the design of Connectors, and the details of working with them is a topic for a future post, as of this update the initial Rollbase Connector framework is live with the following available connectors:

• Rollbase Inbound: Synchronize all Object records with an Object from another Rollbase account by creating a mapping between fields from an Object in the source account to your Object’s fields.
• Taleo Business Edition (TBE) Inbound: Synchronize candidate data from a Taleo Business Edition account with an object representing Candidates or Employees in your Rollbase account. A Premium level Taleo Business Edition account is required for this connector because it relies on the TBE Web API.
• FTP Backup: Automatically creates a ZIP backup of all your Rollbase object data and file attachments, and sends it to a specified FTP server. Parameters include an FTP server URL, username, password, and optional CD command to execute upon login ensuring your backup is placed in the right location.

The screenshot below shows a portion of the Taleo Business Edition connector configuration:

In order to use any of these connectors you must be a paying subscriber. For more information or for a demonstration contact our sales team at sales@rollbase.com or call 650-265-4282.

Default Field Values

Most field types now have a new property called Default Value which populates instances of that field with a specific value when displayed in New pages.

Suppose you have a Quote object with fields representing prices for particular products and services. When creating a new Quote you may want to pre-populate some of these fields with specific price and rate information. Perhaps you’d also like to automatically populate an expiration date for the quote. This is now possible with the new Default Value field property.

Some fields provide specific default value formats. For example, Date and Date/Time fields allow you to use "current date plus N days as default value for newly created records". They also allow you to use "current date plus N days as default value for updates and status changes" for use in cases where the field is not already populated:

As noted in a previous post, Picklists, Multi-Select Picklists, Radio Buttons, and Group of Checkbox fields provide their own unique default value(s) syntax.

Some field types do not include a default value property where it is typically not applicable: for example, Template, Formula, Shared Image, Image Upload and File Upload fields do not have a default value property.

Multiple Sort By's in Views and Reports

Now Views and Reports allow you to sort by up to three columns hierarchically. For example, you can now sort a Contacts view by Country, then State, then City: