Step 2: Custom Mock Data

In this step, we want to change the mock data of the initial app. The service metadata only contains a description of the service entities. The mock server that is part of the app will auto-generate random mock data based on the data types defined in the metadata file. To have a more realistic development environment we will now add additional sample data.

Preview

Figure 1: The product list of the initial app with custom mock data

Figure 2: Folder structure for this step including custom mock data

The webapp/localService/metadata.xml file used by the mock server describes our OData service. The service only has two OData entities, and the data for these two entities is located in the folder webapp/localService/mockdata:

Products

A product has typical properties like ProductName and UnitsInStock as well as a navigation property to a supplier entity referenced by a SupplierID. Of course, the entity has an ID property ProductID. The corresponding EntitySet is Products. The actual test data containing several products is located in the webapp/localService/mockdata/Products.json file.
Suppliers

Later in this tutorial, we will display some information about the supplier of a product. The properties are CompanyName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country, and so on; all of them contain textual information of type Edm.String. The entity has an ID property SupplierID and the corresponding EntitySet is Suppliers. The supplier data for products is located in the file webapp/localService/mockdata/Suppliers.json.

Coding

You can view and download all files in the Explored app in the Demo Kit under Worklist App - Step 2.

webapp/localService/mockdata/Products.json (New)

[
  {
    "ProductID": 1,
    "ProductName": "Chai",
    "UnitsInStock": 39,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 10,
    "UnitPrice": 8,
    "SupplierID": 1,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(1)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 2,
    "ProductName": "Chang",
    "UnitsInStock": 0,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 7,
    "UnitPrice": 6,
    "SupplierID": 1,
    "Discontinued": true,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(2)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 3,
    "ProductName": "Aniseed Syrup",
    "UnitsInStock": 100,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 6,
    "UnitPrice": 3,
    "SupplierID": 3,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(3)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 4,
    "ProductName": "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte",
    "UnitsInStock": 2,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 3,
    "UnitPrice": 19,
    "SupplierID": 3,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(4)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 5,
    "ProductName": "Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning",
    "UnitsInStock": 0,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 9,
    "UnitPrice": 108,
    "SupplierID": 3,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(5)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 6,
    "ProductName": "Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix",
    "UnitsInStock": 21,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 0,
    "UnitPrice": 18,
    "SupplierID": 4,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(6)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 7,
    "ProductName": "Grandma's Boysenberry Spread",
    "UnitsInStock": 25,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 25,
    "UnitPrice": 18,
    "SupplierID": 5,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(7)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 8,
    "ProductName": "Uncle Bob's Organic Dried Pears",
    "UnitsInStock": 29,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 7,
    "UnitPrice": 35,
    "SupplierID": 6,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(8)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 9,
    "ProductName": "Northwoods Cranberry Sauce",
    "UnitsInStock": 4,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 32,
    "UnitPrice": 35,
    "SupplierID": 6,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(9)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 10,
    "ProductName": "Mishi Kobe Niku",
    "UnitsInStock": 40,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 0,
    "UnitPrice": 130,
    "SupplierID": 5,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(10)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 11,
    "ProductName": "Ikura",
    "UnitsInStock": 4,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 10,
    "UnitPrice": 13,
    "SupplierID": 4,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(11)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 13,
    "ProductName": "Carnarvon Tigers",
    "UnitsInStock": 36,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 40,
    "UnitPrice": 56,
    "SupplierID": 3,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(13)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 14,
    "ProductName": "Teatime Chocolate Biscuits",
    "UnitsInStock": 0,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 40,
    "UnitPrice": 7,
    "SupplierID": 2,
    "Discontinued": false,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(14)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "ProductID": 15,
    "ProductName": "Alice Mutton",
    "UnitsInStock": 90,
    "UnitsOnOrder": 20,
    "UnitPrice": 75,
    "SupplierID": 2,
    "Discontinued": true,
    "Supplier": {
      "__deferred": {
        "uri": "/destinations/northwind/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products(15)/Supplier"
      }
    }
  }
]

First create a new mockdata folder inside webapp/localService. Create a Products.json file, and copy and paste the code.

webapp/localService/mockdata/Suppliers.json (New)

[
  {
    "SupplierID": 1,
    "CompanyName": "New Orleans Cajun Delights",
    "ContactName": "Shelley Burke",
    "ContactTitle": "Order Administrator",
    "Address": "P.O. Box 78934",
    "City": "New Orleans",
    "Region": "LA",
    "PostalCode": "70117",
    "Country": "USA"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 2,
    "CompanyName": "Exotic Liquids",
    "ContactName": "Charlotte Cooper",
    "ContactTitle": "Purchasing Manager",
    "Address": "49 Gilbert St.",
    "City": "London",
    "Region": "UK",
    "PostalCode": "EC1 4SD",
    "Country": "UK"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 3,
    "CompanyName": "Grandma Kelly's Homestead",
    "ContactName": "Regina Murphy",
    "ContactTitle": "Sales Representative",
    "Address": "707 Oxford Rd.",
    "City": "Ann Arbor",
    "Region": "MI",
    "PostalCode": "48104",
    "Country": "USA"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 4,
    "CompanyName": "Forêts d'érables",
    "ContactName": "Chantal Goulet",
    "ContactTitle": "Accounting Manager",
    "Address": "148 rue Chasseur",
    "City": "Ste-Hyacinthe",
    "Region": "Québec",
    "PostalCode": "J2S 7S8",
    "Country": "Canada"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 5,
    "CompanyName": "Plutzer Lebensmittelgroßmärkte AG",
    "ContactName": "Martin Bein",
    "ContactTitle": "International Marketing Mgr.",
    "Address": "Bogenallee 51",
    "City": "Frankfurt",
    "Region": "DE",
    "PostalCode": "60439",
    "Country": "Germany"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 6,
    "CompanyName": "Lyngbysild",
    "ContactName": "Niels Petersen",
    "ContactTitle": "Sales Manager",
    "Address": "Lyngbysild Fiskebakken 10",
    "City": "Lyngby",
    "Region": "NL",
    "PostalCode": "2800",
    "Country": "Denmark"
  },
  {
    "SupplierID": 7,
    "CompanyName": "Formaggi Fortini s.r.l.",
    "ContactName": "Elio Rossi",
    "ContactTitle": "Sales Representative",
    "Address": "Viale Dante, 75",
    "City": "Ravenna",
    "Region": "IL",
    "PostalCode": "48100",
    "Country": "Italy"
  }
]

Create a Suppliers.json file, and copy and paste the code.

You can now run the app again and see the mock data in your app.

Note

In order to get realistic mock data you can call a real OData service directly in your browser to receive the real data of a given Entity or EntitySet. Make sure to call the service with the system option $format=json, i.e. http://services.odata.org/V2/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Products?$format=json. This will return the data in JSON format, which is the format required for our mock data. This data is put into a local file in your application’s webapp/localService/mockdata folder. The file name is expected to be the name of the corresponding EntitySet ends with .json, for example Products.json. The obtained data from the OData service can serve as a first set of mock data, which you can change to your needs if necessary. SAP Web IDE offers also a dedicated editor for mock data that makes the maintenance of the data even easier.