Is OData intended only as a way to publish data to other parties or can i use it as a Data Layer for my Application

Question

I am a bit confused about OData. Is it meant only for "publishing" data to other parties? Or can I use it in my client server application as a data layer.

The case I have is : developing a client-server application for managing some information. The client is a WPF application, the Server is basically Database and a WCF Layer to expose the data to the client. This application is intended for use inside an intranet only.

Is OData a good option to consider in my case or this is not really the situation where OData is designed for?

Answer 1

OData is a great fit for your client-server application. For example you can use Silverlight or Javascript as an interface to OData. Since it is REST based, you can do CRUD from virtually any client that is able to do a HTTP GET or POST

Here is a sample client in Silverlight http://www.silverlight.net/content/samples/odataexplorer/

The part you may be confused about is that WCF and OData have merged into one in .NET 4. If you were an early adopter of "Astoria" or ADO .NET Data Services, OData is the exact same thing but renamed. If you're working with earlier frameworks, say .NET 3.5, search for ADO.NET Data Services/Astoria and you're on the right track.