Basics | Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

Key terminology used in the platform.

anonymous user: A user who is browsing the platform without logging in. Anonymous users can see public content but cannot post to Boards, write comments or ratings, or create resources such as apps.
App Board: The App Board allows development team members to create private discussions with other team members pertaining to their specific application development projects. Team members can also create trouble tickets pertaining to issues associated with application development.; Navigation: My Apps > App Name > Board
API Board: The API Board allows any member to post discussions pertaining to a specific API, or create trouble tickets pertaining to issues associated with the operation of a particular API.; Navigation: APIs > API Name > Board
Board item: An individual entry on a resource's Board. A Board item can be an Alert, API Access Request (Contract Request), Discussion, Group Membership Invitation, or Ticket.
Private API: Private APIs are visible to members who have been invited to join a Private API Group. Once a member has accepted a Private API invitation, the Private API is displayed with a unique icon.
My APIs: The My APIs quick filter provides a list of APIs that a member who is an API Provider has added. Each API includes functional and usage documentation, and download files.; Navigation: My APIs quick filter
App ID: When an app developer registers an app in the platform, it is assigned an App ID. The App ID is a unique identifier for your app within the platform. All API calls include the App ID.
Dashboard: The Dashboard is a configurable information system that is used to view and manage event notifications relating to activity that occurs on your account. An individual user's Dashboard is an aggregation of all the Board items from all the resources that the user is following.; Navigation: Dashboard tab.
license: A License is a tailored API access package designed by the Business Admin/API Admin and offered to the app developer. A license includes one or more license terms, each of which can include multiple scopes, giving access to specifically designated operations, and multiple quality of service (QoS) policies, and also one or more legal agreements applicable to the license.; For more information on the License feature, see Licenses: Feature Overview.
license term: A license term defines the access that is being offered in a license (scope) and the level of access (QoS policy). Each license term includes one or more scopes plus, optionally, the quality of service limits/policies to be applied to all scopes in the license term. Scopes apply to both visibility and access; policies apply only to access. To have any impact, a license term must include at least one scope.
My Apps: The My Apps quick filter is a dashboard that displays all the apps defined by a member. The dashboard is used to manage your app workflow from setup to a live production site.; Navigation: My Apps quick filter
production environment URL: A unique gateway URL (service endpoint) that provides access to the production endpoint of an API. The production endpoint URL becomes available when you request production access, and go live after production access has been approved.; Navigation: My Apps > Apps
Public Key Integration: The Public Key Integration section of My Apps > App Details > Security, allows you to use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for secure message signing. When you initially create your app, a shared secret is generated by default. If you would like to override the shared secret, you can upload a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). The Certificate Authority associated with the platform will generate a public/private key pair using the uploaded CSR.; Navigation: My Apps > Details > Security
QoS (quality of service) policy: A QoS policy defines the level of service being offered to an app that is accessing an API; for example, the number of transactions per minute that are allowed for the app. In the platform, QoS policies are tied to license terms.
sandbox endpoint URL: A unique gateway URL (service endpoint) that provides access to an APIs sandbox environment. The Sandbox Endpoint URL becomes available after requesting access an API using the Request API Access Wizard.; Navigation: Add APIs in My Apps > API Management, or Request API Access in My Apps.
scope: A subset of a license. A scope is the bridge between the top level of the hierarchy, which is a license, and the bottom level, an operation. At the business level, the Business Admin defines the scope with a name and basic attributes. Then, at the API level, the API Admin assigns specific operations to one or more scopes for the API. These operations are included in any license that the scope is assigned to.
Search: The Search function provides a full-text search capability that allows members and visitors to find information about APIs, and also Board posts, tickets, and alerts.; Navigation: Search text box
Shared Secret: A shared secret is a value generated for an app developer within the secure environment of the platform. The shared secret is known only to the app developer and the platform, and is used for authentication in secure send/receive communications.; Navigation: My Apps > Details > Security
Certificate Authority: A Certificate Authority (CA) issues certificates and guarantees the validity of the binding between the certificate owner and its public key. The CA is a trusted authority, and any certificate issued by the CA identifies the owner of the certificate. Therefore the private key that corresponds to the public key in the certificate is deemed to be known only by the specific owner. Two Certificate Authority options are supported. The Platform Tenant (Host) provides a simplified version of a Certificate Authority that can issue and renew X.509 certificates, or the app developer can import a certificate that was issued outside the platform.; Navigation: My Apps > Details > Security
Trusted Certificate Authority: A Trusted Certificate Authority (CA) is a third party identity that is qualified with a specified level of trust. Trusted CA Certificates are used when an identity is being validated as the entity it claims to be. Certificates imported into the Platform Tenant (i.e., Host) must be issued by a Trusted CA Authority. Trusted CA Certificates must be configured prior to importing X.509 certificates for DevExchange applications.; Navigation: My Apps > Details > Security
tenant: The tenant is a distinct developer portal and community that is logical separated from any other communities that may be hosted in the same product instance.; The Tenant is managed by the Site Administrator.
visibility scope: In the context of the Licenses feature, an individual user's visibility scope includes the set of licenses to which the user has been invited (due to the user's group membership). The user sees those licenses and can apply for API access with one or more of them. Operations that have been assigned to a scope that are included in a license a specific user has not been invited to are not visible to that user in the API documentation, and the user does not see the license and cannot request API access with that license.