OData stands for Open Data Protocol, which is an open protocol that enables the creation of REST-based data services, which allow resources to be published and edited by web clients using simple HTTP messages. The OData protocol was initially developed by Microsoft in 2007 and is now a standardized protocol of the OASIS OData technical committee. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition supports Odata v4 with the JSON data type, and supports complete CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) operations.
OData provides the following benefits:
- It lets developers interact with data using RESTful web services
- It provides a simple and uniform way to share data in a discoverable fashion
- It enables broad integration across products
- It enables integration using the HTTP protocol stack
For more information about OData, refer to the following web links:
| Topic | Link |
| OData standards | http://www.odata.org/documentation/ |
| OData introduction | https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd541188.aspx |
| OData by example | http://www.odata.org/odata-services/ |