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Install PxWebApi 2.0 on your IIS server

This instruction guides you in how to install PxWebApi 2.0 on a clean install of IIS in the root of the Default Web Site with PX file database.

Prerequisites

  • A supported Windows server with IIS installed you might want to enable Dynamic Content Compression service for IIS to save some bandwidth.
  • Have .NET 8 installed on the web server. It is recommended to install the Windows Hosting Bundle Installer.

Installation steps

  • Download the zip file for the latest release from GitHub. Make sure to Unblock it if its block by right clicking on it in File Explorer and check the Unblock checkbox.
  • Extract the zip file to the location of your choice.
  • Copy the content of the release folder that you just extracted to C:\inetpub\wwwroot.
  • Give the user IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPoo Modify and Write permissions to the folder C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wwwroot\ControllerStates.
  • Create a folder called sq under C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wwwroot and place you data in that folder. And give the user IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPoo Modify and Write permissions.
  • Create a folder called Database under C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wwwroot and place you data in that folder. And give the user IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPoo Modify and Write permissions.

Info

If you do not have any data of your own you can download the tiny demo database and use that as your database to test things out.

  • Generate the Menu.xml file with the following PowerShell command. 
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://localhost/api/v2/admin/database' -Method Put -Headers @{'API_ADMIN_KEY' = 'test'}
  • Wait for the Menu.xml file to be created. It can take some time depending on the size of your database. You can run the following PowerShell command to see if the file has been created. 
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://localhost/api/v2/admin/database' -Method Get -Headers @{'API_ADMIN_KEY' = 'test'} | Select-Object -Expand Content
    You will get a JSON result. Look for a Finished at Message 
    {
  "State": "finished",
  "LastRunTime": "2025-08-29T13:54:42Z",
  "EventsFromLastRun": [
      {
          "Type": "Information",
          "Message": "Started at 8/29/2025 1:54:42 PM"
      },
      {
          "Type": "Information",
          "Message": "Menu build started 2025-08-29 15:54:42"
      },
      {
          "Type": "Information",
          "Message": "Menu build ended 2025-08-29 15:54:42"
      },
      {
          "Type": "Information",
          "Message": "Finished at 8/29/2025 1:54:42 PM"
      }
  ]
}
  • Generate the search index. The search index is used by the API to answer questions about the content in the database. Generate it by running the following PowerShell command. 
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://localhost/api/v2/admin/searchindex' -Method POST -Headers @{'API_ADMIN_KEY' = 'test'}
  • Wait for the search index to be created. It can take some time depending on the size of your database. You can run the following PowerShell command to see if the search index has been created. 
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://localhost/api/v2/admin/searchindex' -Method Get -Headers @{'API_ADMIN_KEY' = 'test'} | Select-Object -Expand Content
    You will get a JSON result. Look for a Finished at Message 
    {
    "State": "finished",
    "LastRunTime": "2025-08-29T14:17:50Z",
    "EventsFromLastRun": [
        {
            "Type": "Information",
            "Message": "Started at 8/29/2025 2:17:49 PM"
        },
        {
            "Type": "Information",
            "Message": "Finished at 8/29/2025 2:17:50 PM"
        }
    ]
}
  • Verify that the api is running by opening up a browser on the web server and go to http://localhost/api/v2/tables. This will result in a JSON response listing the contents of your database.