Managing Web Services › External Specifications › Access Control and Management › Simplified Web Services Access

Simplified Web Services Access

CA SDM Web Services provides an abbreviated set of high-level web services methods that are simplified versions of existing web services methods. The majority of users applications do not have to completely rely on a large set of web services methods before requesting service desk services through CA SDM Web Services. Working closely with user-defined access policies and using default parameters defined in the policies, this set of high-level web services methods can function with little knowledge of the CA SDM object schema. Also, the high-level methods cover a common set of CA SDM functionalities that most service-aware applications need.

The following describes the use of these high-level web services methods:

createTicket (SID, Description, Error_Type, Userid, Asset, DuplicationID)

You must specify an error type for the reported error if you use this method. The error type should contain the ticket template appropriate for the ticket you want to create. It should define the action to take in the case of a duplicate ticket, specify the data outputs, and finally, it must be associated to the access policy that is defined for the user application.

When this method is invoked, CA SDM Web Services locates the current access policy and the error type required for the ticket creation. The following shows the sequence that CA SDM Web Services uses for locating the proper error type:

• If a specific error type code is provided as input and it matches a error type that is associated to the policy, this error type is used, regardless of whether it is internal.
• If an error type is not specified or the previous step fails to locate an error type, the default error type is used if there is one defined for the policy.
• If a default error type is not defined for the policy or the previous step fails, the default error type defined for internal error types is used.

After an error type is defined, CA SDM Web Services uses it to create a ticket. The proxy user defined in the access policy is used for the ticket creation if the userid is empty, and asset information is added to the ticket (if the input is not empty). After the ticket is created, CA SDM Web Services returns both user data and application data, as specified by the error type.

closeTicket (SID, Description, TicketHandle)

Users can call this function to close an open ticket. It simply sets the status of an open ticket to ‘close’ and adds the input description to the activity log.

logComment (SID, TicketHandle, Comment, Internal_Flag)

Adds an entry with the input comment to the activity log for the open ticket.

getPolicyInfo (SID)

Lets users obtain the policy information that controls the current web services session. You can use this information as an indicator of server capacity for this user application. Users may want to adjust their web services calls to fit into the capacity.

By having this set of simplified Web Services APIs, a majority of users are spared the tremendous effort of understanding the complete set of web services API and CA SDM schema. Using them simplifies and accelerates the process of creating service-aware enabled applications for these users.