1.1 Terminology
The terminology used by SData is summarized in the following table:
| Term | Examples | Default Representation | Description | Synonyms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource | Account 1753 Sales order 08062100004 | Atom entry | A resource is a single composite piece of data that is addressable by a URL in an SData service. | Record object instance |
| Resource kind | Accounts sales orders | N/A | A classification of resources that share common features and behaviours. | Class entity |
| Resource collection | All accounts Sales orders of customer 347 | Atom feed | A collection of resources. | Table list |
| Resource definition | Definition of accounts | XSD <element> and <complexType> | Describes the structure of the resources. | Table definition Class definition |
| Resource template | Account template | Atom entry | Is a pseudo-resource with all its properties set to their default values. It can be used to set the initial content of a resource creation form. | |
| Contract | CRM/ERP contract | N/A | Defines the structure and behaviour of a set of related resource kinds exposed by an SData service. | Service interface |
| Schema | Schema for CRM/ERP contract | XSD <schema> | Groups together the resource definitions of a given contract. | |
| Property | Account name Sales order amount | N/A | An abstraction of a data element that is common to all the resources of a given kind. | Field column attribute |
| Property definition | Definition of account name | XSD <element> inside a <complexType> | Describes the type and attributes of a given property of a resource kind. | Field definition column definition |
| Property value | Name of account 1753 Amount of sales order 08062100004 | XML element inside Atom entry | An individual data element in a resource. The term "property value" is oftened shortened as "property" as the context makes it obvious that the "value" is referred to. | Field value column value attribute value |
| Service operation | Compute price | URL for the operation Atom entries for input parameters and result | A SOAP-like operation that does not fit the CRUD model imposed by REST. | Function procedure RPC |