The Complete Guide to RAD Server

While Embarcadero keeps adding features to RAD Server (more to come soon) we have made some additional effort to help developers better understand how to use RAD Server for hosting REST APIs and building a modern web service architecture.

We have asked David I to help and he delivered for us an in-depth 200 pages e-book covering RAD Server development and deployment. It is available for free to customers of the Enterprise and Architect editions of Delphi and C++Builder, or RAD Studio.

Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................................................6 What You’ll Learn.....................................................................................................................................6 RAD Server Overview...............................................................................................................................6 Building RAD Server based applications – Seven Key Aspects...............................................................8 Requirements for Building RAD Server Applications..............................................................................9 Using the RAD Studio IDE..................................................................................................................9 RAD Server Testing and Deployment Licenses...................................................................................9 FireDAC Supported Databases.............................................................................................................9 Deployment Platforms Supported.......................................................................................................10 Web Servers Supported for Deployment............................................................................................10 See Also...................................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 2: Roundup of Core RAD Server Features.....................................................................................12 Core Features...........................................................................................................................................12 Features Highlighted in the RAD Studio Feature Matrix........................................................................13 See Also...................................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 3: Building Your First RAD Server Applications...........................................................................16 Building REST-Based Services...............................................................................................................16 Using the RAD Server Project Wizard...............................................................................................17 The Wizard Generated RAD Server Project and Source Code...........................................................20 Configuring RAD Server for your first Application................................................................................24 Testing your first RAD Server Application.............................................................................................29 Using the RAD Server Development Console........................................................................................33 Using the RAD Server Console Ext JS Based UI...................................................................................36 Using REST Debugger to Test RAD Server Applications......................................................................39 Enhancing the RAD Server App with FireDAC and InterBase...............................................................40 Create Client applications for the RAD Server application....................................................................44 See Also...................................................................................................................................................46 Chapter 4: RAD Server Configuration File Explained................................................................................48 Main Sections of the Configuration File.................................................................................................48 Database Configuration [Data]...........................................................................................................49 Authentication Configuration [Server.Keys]......................................................................................50 Developer Server Connection [Server.Connection.Dev]....................................................................50 API Cross-Domain [Server.APICrossDomain]..................................................................................51 Thread Management [Server.Threads.Dev]........................................................................................51 Console Login [Console.Login].........................................................................................................52 Console Cookie Settings [Console.Cookies]......................................................................................52 Console Display Options [Console.DisplayOptions].........................................................................52 Console Development Server Settings [Console.Connection.Dev]....................................................52 Console Browser Settings [Console.Browser]....................................................................................53 Console Development Paths Settings [Console.Paths.Dev]...............................................................53 Console ISAPI Paths Settings [Console.Paths.ISAPI].......................................................................53 Console Apache Paths Settings [Console.Paths.Apache]...................................................................53 Configuration Section for Extension Packages [Server.Packages].....................................................53 Google Cloud Messaging [Server.Push.GCM]...................................................................................54 Apple Push Notification Service [Server.Push.APNS].......................................................................54 Server Authorization Configuration Section [Server.Authorization].................................................54 Custom Resource Redirects [Server.Redirect]....................................................................................55 Proxy Setup for Edge Module Requests [Server.EdgeHTTP]............................................................56 Single/Multi Tenancy [Server.Tenants]...............................................................................................56 Specifying root paths [Server.Roots]..................................................................................................56 File Dispatching Support [Server.PublicPaths]..................................................................................57 See Also...................................................................................................................................................58 Chapter 5: Deploying a RAD Server Application to Windows and IIS.......................................................59 Step 1: Install InterBase 2017 with your RAD Server License...............................................................59 Step 2: Install IIS.....................................................................................................................................65 Step 3: Create New Sites for RAD Server Engine and RAD Server Console.........................................68 Step 4: Configure the EMSServer.ini file for the RAD Server Console.................................................70 Step 5: Configuring IIS 7 for RAD Server ISAPI DLLs.........................................................................70 Step 6: Enable ISAPI Modules................................................................................................................75 Step 7: Enable 32 bits ISAPI DLL on IIS 7 x64......................................................................................77 Step 8: Configure IIS to Allow Cross Domain Requests.........................................................................77 Step 9: Copy RAD Server application(s) and supporting files to the IIS production server...................77 Step 10: Test RAD Server on the Windows Production Server...............................................................79 See Also...................................................................................................................................................81 Chapter 6: Deploying a RAD Server application on Linux Apache............................................................83 Prerequisites.............................................................................................................................................83 Install InterBase 2017 for Linux..............................................................................................................84 Starting InterBase on Linux................................................................................................................87 Running InterBase as a Service..........................................................................................................88 RAD Server files for Linux support........................................................................................................89 RAD Server Stand-alone Installation......................................................................................................90 Setting Up RAD Server for Apache........................................................................................................95 Red Hat and related non-Debian distributions of Linux.....................................................................95 Ubuntu and similar Debian distributions of Linux.............................................................................96 Final Apache Server Setup and Restart...................................................................................................96 Test RAD Server Running on Apache.....................................................................................................97 Apache is Ready for your RAD Server Packages...................................................................................97 See Also...................................................................................................................................................98 Chapter 7: Mapping Web Properties to Folders.........................................................................................100 A Simple Example.................................................................................................................................100 See Also.................................................................................................................................................105 Chapter 8: Returning JSON using JSONValue and JSONWriter...............................................................106 Two Frameworks for Handling JSON Data..........................................................................................106 Using JSONValue..................................................................................................................................106 RAD Server App using JSONValue classes.....................................................................................107 VCL Client App using JSONValue classes.......................................................................................109 Using JSONWriter.................................................................................................................................111 A Simple JSONWriter Example........................................................................................................111 Using JSONWriter with a SQL Query..............................................................................................112 See Also.................................................................................................................................................118 Chapter 9: Using FireDAC Batch Move and JSONWriter.........................................................................119 Returning JSON Database Data Using a Memory Stream....................................................................119 Using FireDAC’s BatchMove, BatchMoveDataSetReader and BatchMoveJSONWriter.....................122 See Also.................................................................................................................................................126 Chapter 10: Mapping Endpoints to Custom Method Names.....................................................................127 Adding EndPointMethod Attributes......................................................................................................127 Test the RAD Server Application..........................................................................................................129 See Also.................................................................................................................................................130 Chapter 11: Mapping Endpoints to External Classes.................................................................................131 Create the RAD Server package application.........................................................................................131 Test the RAD Server application...........................................................................................................134 See Also.................................................................................................................................................136 Chapter 12: Multiple Accept Types with EndpointProduce.......................................................................137 A Simple Example.................................................................................................................................137 RAD Server Executes Methods Based on Accept Headers...................................................................139 See Also.................................................................................................................................................143 Chapter 13: Using the EMSFileResource Component...............................................................................144 Create RAD Server application package...............................................................................................144 Compile and Run the Application.........................................................................................................146 See Also.................................................................................................................................................148 Chapter 14: Using the EMSDataSetResource Component........................................................................149 Test the RAD Server application...........................................................................................................152 Create VCL client application using the EMSDataSetResource endpoint functionality.......................154 See Also.................................................................................................................................................157 Chapter 15: Putting it all together – Building a JavaScript client using Sencha Ext JS............................158 Build an Employee Data RAD Server Application...............................................................................158 Build and Test an EXT JS web client application using Sencha Architect............................................159 Step 1: Create and Preview the JavaScript Web Client App.............................................................160 Step 2: Test the Web Client’s Connection to RAD Server................................................................168 Step 3: Setting up JSON Employee Data Object and Data Model...................................................169 Step 4: Update the Web Client UI and Test the Final App................................................................174 See Also.................................................................................................................................................179 Chapter 16: Putting It All Together – Sample Walk Throughs...................................................................181 RAD Server Samples.............................................................................................................................181 FireDACResource.................................................................................................................................181 APIDocAttributes..................................................................................................................................184 ActiveDirectoryConsole...................................................................................................................186 RAD Server Solution Series application templates...............................................................................188 RAD Server Solution Series: Restaurant Survey Application..........................................................189 RAD Server Solution Series: Field Service Application..................................................................189 RAD Server Solution Series: Nurses Station Solution.....................................................................190 See Also.................................................................................................................................................190 Chapter 17: Summary.................................................................................................................................191 Sample Projects.....................................................................................................................................191 Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................................191 Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................192 DocWiki Help and What’s New............................................................................................................192 Embarcadero Developer Community Blog Posts..................................................................................192 RAD in Action: RAD Server by Cary Jensen........................................................................................193 RAD Server Videos...............................................................................................................................193 Product Videos and Webinar Replays...............................................................................................193 RAD Server Field Service Application.............................................................................................194 RAD Server Application Deep Dive.................................................................................................195 RAD Studio Linux Development.....................................................................................................195