Little over a week ago I wrote a blog entry discussing the Get a peek at the hottest product at SAP BusinessObjects preview at http://polestar.ondemand.com/. Like I mentioned in my blog this preview release provides Polestar functionality to those who don't have their own on-premise deployment. Here's a quote from one of the first replies to my blog, "think it is a great idea to use the cloud to demonstrate new SAP software. Are there other ways to input data besides file upload? What about an RSS feed or use of a REST API?"
We now have a REST API that we can share with all of you, and we are hoping that the developer community puts it to good use. It's a very simple API that should allow anyone to dynamically upload data to Polestar and return a URL for viewing the data inside of Polestar.
We are hoping the developer community at large will take advantage of these APIs and use them to create some interesting applications. To help feed the fire we will be sponsoring an innovation challenge that will award $10,000 to the developers who have created the most interesting integration of Polestar Ondemand . The contest should be launching in the next couple of days, but until then I want to give you a rundown of what the API can do:
- Get a summary listing of all datasets available
- Create a new dataset
- Update a dataset
- Delete a dataset
- Retrieve a dataset in XML format
- View dataset in Polestar
You can find the documentation wiki here: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/wiki?path=/display/bobj/polestar+ondemand+api
Another change that we have made was to integrate the Polestar OnDemand Preview with http://create.ondemand.com/ ,also known as Whohar. Whohar is a part of the same platform that is currently running http://crystalreports.com and http://ondemand.com which both offer cloud based versions of SAP BusinessObjects products. Whohar has been kind of an undercover community site that allows end users to create and share data mashups using SAP BusinessObjects products like Xcelsius and now Polestar. If you play around on it for a few minutes you should get the idea. Whohar currently has data integration capabilities with Dapper.net, Salesforce.com, RSS feeds, and data from Information Ondemand (http://www.ondemand.com/information/). Whohar then allows you to take these datasets, mash them up with other datasets, and eventually add analytic templates to visualize them. Late last week the team added Polestar to the list of features that enable you to analyze your data.
I believe we will see some interesting integrations with these APIs. The most successful integrations will likely be ones that are able to mashup data from previously old and archaic data tables and chart on websites and applications with the new and rich interface of Polestar.
Stay tuned to my blog for more details on the innovation challenge, and please give us your feedback on the Polestar REST API.
