Service Instances

Service Types are "connectors" that allow the product to integrate with particular technologies, while Service Instances are configured instances of a Service Type that connect to specific occurrences of that technology. For example: the EndPoints WebService Service Type allows the product to interact with web services, while an Instance of the EndPoints Web Service must be configured to allow the product to connect to a specific Web Service at a particular URL, before a developer can create SmartObjects that interact with that particular web service.

Clicking on the Service Instances node displays a list of the registered Service Instances in your environment. You can create, edit and delete instances. You can also generate SmartObjects for an instance, refresh an instance or refresh the instances list.

  • If you expect to see a specific service instance in the list and it does not show, you may not have the sufficient rights to do so. See Authorization Framework Overview for information about rights and permissions.
  • From time to time it may be necessary to refresh a service instance so that the product can "discover" any changes to the underlying system. For example, if you have previously configured a Service Instance that connects to a SQL database and new tables or views are added to the SQL database, you will need to Refresh the Service Instance so that the product can discover the new tables or views in the database, which in turn allows for new SmartObjects to be generated or created that can use those new tables and views.