2. Create Asset

The first step in providing data with the Eclipse Dataspace Components-Connector (EDC Connector) is creating an asset. Start by clicking on the tab Assets followed by a click on Create asset on the top right.

Create Asset

A pop-up window will appear, allowing you to define general metadata for the asset.

Create Asset Dialog

Field Name	Field Type	Example Value	Description
Name	String	Bitcoin Data	This name will also be the name of the data offering displayed in the catalog.
Version	String	1.0	Information on the version of the data
Assed ID	URN	urn:artifact:bitcoindata:1.0	ID will automatically be generated and will follow a URL-format and be prefixed by urn:artifact:
Description	String	Current Bitcoin Status	Provide a more detailed description of the asset content.
Keywords	String	Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin	Keywords make the data offer easier to find.
Language	String	English	Language of the content
Content Type	MIME	application/json	Describes the content type of the data as a MIME type, see MIME Types
Endpoint Documentation	URL	https://docs.coincap.io/	Link to the technical documentation about the data to be received.
Publisher	URL	https://coincap.io/	URL of the original publisher of the data.
Standard License	URL	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en	Link to the license under which the data are offered

Proceed by clicking on Datasource Information. In the next step, you will connect your data-source to the asset and optionally add additional headers as well as links to important files, such as documentation and license.

Use a REST-API Endpoint as Datasource

You can connect data from any REST-API endpoint by supplying a HTTP-method and the endpoint-URL. Depending on your data sources, further settings may be required, such as necessary headers for authentication in the event of a data transfer.

Asset Datasource Information

Parameterization

By enabling parameterization, you can offer data consumers, to configure parameters of your data source in an event of a data-transfer. Be aware, that basic knowledge about your data-source is necessary for the consumer, to use the parameterization. For example, data can be requested by the consumer for a specific use case by specifying certain settings via query parameters of the data-source that are forwarded directly to the provider's data source.

Available parameterizations

• Method Parameterization: You can allow your consumer to define the method (e.g. GET, POST, etc.) on how you fetch the data from your data source.

• Path Parameterization: You can allow your consumer to define additional path segments of your data source on a data transfer request. If you have your data URL https://api.coincap.io/v2/assets and allow fetching specific data by adding "/{coin_name}", you could for example allow consumers to fetch data from https://api.coincap.io/v2/assets/bitcoin by enabling this option.

• Query Param Parameterization: You can allow your consumer to define the query parameters on a data transfer request. Thus, consumers could define query-parameters of the data-source themselves.

• Request Body Parameterization: On methods like POST or PUT, HTTP allows to send additional data in the body of the request to your data-source. For example if the pre-selected method is POST and the endpoint allows to add data in the request-body, the consumer could send it's data within a data transfer request which is then used to send towards the data-source as body.

Authentication

By specifying the header "Authorization", you could for example enable basic HTTP-auth or bearer-token authentication. Optionally a single header can be marked as authentication header and can have its value supplied by a vault-secret in our vault connected to your CaaS, "Header with Vault Secret".

Custom Datasource If the UI does not support your desired data address type, you can provide a custom data address config JSON.

Asset with Custom Datasource

Example:

JSON

{
  "properties": {
    "type": "HttpData",
    "baseUrl": "https://webhook.site/86b9b7e6-eb27-4c5f-b7e5-336d5f157f15"
  }
}

Note: Currently, only one endpoint can be connected unless the credentials for the APIs are exactly the same.

Proceed by providing metadata as explained above.

Click on Create to create the asset.

You have now connected a data source to the Connector. To share this data with other data space participants, you need to define a Policy and then create a Contract Definition.