Progress Data Objects define resources in ABL that can be used both within an OpenEdge application and from external clients using standard web technologies. This allows a client application running on the Internet to access data resources from a well-defined API using Data Object Services made available via web servers. Data Object Services employ web technologies to support a broad range of data access options, depending on the resource, from read/write access of simple sets of data elements to direct invocation of business logic on the server that can control complex transactions over that data. The supported clients include both OpenEdge client UIs built in ABL and mobile and web apps built using JavaScript, HTML5, and jQuery-based UI libraries, depending on the tools you use to build these apps.

Progress Data Objects can be used in desktop, mobile and web apps.