Windward Documentation

Getting Started with .NET RESTful Engine

This article gives you the basic information you need to install and test Report Engine for RESTful.

Requirements

Windows Server 2008 R2 or later
A virtual machine, cloud server, or dedicated hardware can be used
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)

In Windows 10, you must enable IIS

For information on installing and configuring IIS in other versions, refer to the following Microsoft articles: Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008

.NET 4.5.1 framework (.NET 4.6.1 framework for v16)
A Report Engine for RESTful license key (request a trial license key if you don't have one)

For .NET RESTful Engine versions 21.1+ you will need to install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable if you get the following error when initializing the RESTful Engine:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'PDFNet.dll' or one of its dependencies.

You can get the installer from here (click here for direct download of x64 version)

Installing Report Engine for RESTful

Downloading Report Engine for RESTful

Go to Windward Studios Downloads and download the latest version of Report Engine for RESTful (RESTfulEngineAndClient.zip)

From RESTfulEngineAndClient.zip, extract RESTfulEngine.zip

From RESTfulEngine.zip, extract the RESTfulEngine directory and its contents to C:\inetpub\wwwroot. Then you can rename the RESTfulEngine directory if you wish.

Creating a Website

Open IIS Manager (search for "IIS" from your Start button or Cortana), then create a new website by right-clicking on the server (top level of the navigation tree) and choose "Add Web Site..." to bring up a new interface.

In the "Add Website" dialog, set a descriptive site name, but not the application pool.

Click on the "Select…" button next to the "Application pool" text field. Click on the drop down list and select one of the options:

ASP.NET v4.0
.NET 4.5 or .NET 4.0

(Although you may only see .NET 4.0 or .NET 4.5, if you have .NET 4.5.1 installed, either option will work.)

Now browse to the physical path to the RESTfulEngine folder (which you may have renamed) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot.

For the "Binding" section, select an IP address and port to be used for this website, and optionally a host name.

Then click on OK to close the "Add Website" dialog.

Editing Permissions

Back in the left pane of your IIS window, right-click on the RESTfulEngine application you created (in the navigation tree) and click "Edit Permissions... ." You must allow write permissions for the application.

In the properties dialog, select the Security tab, then select CREATOR OWNER, and click on the "Edit..." button.

Select the "IIS_IUSRS" account, and under the "Allow" column, select the "Write" checkbox under the permissions for the IIS_IUSRS group. Click on OK to close the Permissions dialog. Then click OK to close the Properties dialog.

Turning On or Off Windows Features

Click "Start button" or Cortana and enter "Turn windows features on or off"

In the new window, navigate to Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Application Development Features

Check (enable) the features. You may not need CGI.

Click on OK to save your selections and exit.

Entering Your License Key

The Report Engine for RESTful has a [config.web configuration file] which must be edited to insert your license key. Replace '<add key="license" value="[[LICENSE]]" />' with your license key.

Testing the Installation

To test your installation, open a browser and type the URL

http://<site name>:<port number>/v1/version

where <site name> is the site name you set when you created the website above, and <port number> is the port number you selected. You should see version information displayed for your Engine:

And you've successfully installed your Report Engine for RESTful!

What's Next

The RESTfulEngineAndClient.zip file you originally download also contains a RESTfulClients.zip file. Extract the contents of RESTfulClients.zip and you'll see example code in a variety of programming languages including C#, PHP, Java and Ruby. Exploring the example code is a great place to start learning how to use the Engine. These clients can also be found here.

You can also use the Windward RESTful API to embed the RESTful engine in your project. To learn more about out RESTful API, click here.