Nom Nom: Consuming REST APIs

transcript

ZendCon Conference October 2016Consuming Rest APIs

Follow me on Twitter and/or tweet at me. @tessamero

By Tessa Mero

Nom Nom: Consuming Rest APIs

CONSUME THE REST APIS!

• Who Am I?• WHAT ARE APIs• Requests and Responses• Intro to APIs• Playing with Spark API• Playing with Tropo API• Taking Knowledge Home With You

Overview

@tessamero

• Developer Advocate• Teacher/Mentor• Previously Web Developer• <3 Free & Open Source• Community Leader for

Joomla and PHP

• Mother of 2• I love APIs• Addicted to Twitter

(@tessamero)

Who Am I?

Cisco DevNet? Why Am I Here?

• What is DevNet?• What is the Purpose?• Why do we go to programming

conferences?

• Not Selling Anything• We Like Giving Out Swag• We Like attention

@ciscodevnet

Why are API’s so important?

API Growth from 2000 to 2016

2000 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 20160

35000API's

Source: 2016 data from nordicapis.com. 2005-2015 data from rubenverborgh.github.io and 2000-2004 data from blog.cutter.com

Okay, What is an API?

Ready for a lot of examples? I’ll make it sound easy

“It’s a way for two pieces of software to talk to each other”

Application Programming Interface

The API is the User Interface for software systems

APIs are sets of requirements that govern how one application can talk to another.

An API is like …

An API (Application Programming Interface) is best thought of as a contract provided by one piece of computer software to another.

APIs help developers create apps that benefit the end user.

Yelp asks for Map Data

Google Maps returns map data

via API

Users sees list of

restaurants close to

15Presentation ID

-- Programmable Web

APIs are often referred to as “an engine of innovation.”

REST API versus Web API

• No difference at all. It doesn’t give a different output.

• HTTP implements methods.

• A REST interface simply sends request to server

Three Types of Web Services for Providing APIsRemote Procedure Call (RPC) or XML-RPC

• Single URI

• Response is in a Structured Format

• Lacks Responses

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

• More powerful, preferred by software vendors (MSFT,.NET,Java Entprse Edition, etc)

• SOAP most used tool 2001-2007

Representational State Transfer (REST)

• Most popular web service

• Each unique URL is a representational of some object

• Easy to read results

• Light Weight – Not much XML markup

http://tiny.cc/webservices

Requests and Responses

View a Web Page

Presentation ID

View a Web Page

Presentation ID

Request GET /index.htm HTTP/1.1

ResponseHTTP 200 OK

<html>

REST APIs use Request and Response too

• 200 OK• 301 Moved Permanently• 302 Found• 307 Temporary Redirect• 400 Bad Request• 403 Forbidden

Common HTTP Status Codes

• 404 Not Found• 500 Internal Server

Error• 550 Permission Denied

Using Cisco Spark API as a Use Case. Of course =P

So how do you interact with this API?

Get Data using an API

Presentation ID

Get Data using an API

Presentation ID

Request GET /rooms

ResponseHTTP 200 OK

{json data}

API Consumer API Provider

Tools to Debug/Test http://tiny.cc/60tools

• Webhook Debugging (RequestBin formerly requestbin.org…)• Webhook Utilities (Torpio…)• Local Tunneling (ngrok...)• API Monitoring (Runscope...)• Response Mocking (mocky.io...) • JSON Utilities (JSONFormat...)• OAUTH Utilities (oauth.io...)• API Directories (APIS.io, ProgrammableWeb...)• API Testing (Runscope Radar...)• Load Testing (loader.io...)• GUI HTTP Clients (POSTMAN...)

Postman!!!! =)

Test Your REST API Requests = FUN

method

requestheaders

status code

response headers

content-type

responsebody

query parameters

Now What? How Do You Figure Out How To Use an API?

One Word: Documentation

1. First, find the documentation page. If you cannot find it, then that’s a problem.

2. Find the API Reference.

3. Figure out what you want to do.

4. Test your API request via Postman because it’s fun :P

Reviewing the Documentation

The API Reference!

API Reference: Rooms

Room Created!

PHPCruise Room Created!

Whoa!!!!

You created a room, now how do you post a message to it through an API request?

1. Take Note of Key generated when you created a room, so now your room has an ID.

2. Refer to documentation for Creating a Message3. Test the API request.

4. Make Magic Happen.

Create Message API Request

Oh yeah, the documentation….

But what about request parameters?

Oh yeah, the documentation!

Create your request parameters in the body.Feelin’ 200 OK

Oh my gosh I can’t see it what does it say?

One important thing to do when you receive a 200 OK HTTP Status:(Please take note of this)

Alright I get it. Now show me something else that’s cool!

How About… Applications Interacting With a Cell Phone?!

Introducing the Tropo API! IT’S SO MUCH FUNZ

What Can You Do With Tropo?

Create an Application:

Register (anyone can, free)

Click on “My Apps”

Click on “Create New App”

1. Create Name2. Click on “Edit Script” and give it a name. This is: textService.js

3. Add a Phone Number (Free for Dev)

4. Write some JavaScript

call("+14258791911", { network:"SMS”

say("Don't forget your meeting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday!");

5. LAUNCH IT!

You can put your token URL in the browser to make a request and fire off your app

https://api.tropo.com/1.0/sessions?action=create&token=6c7a56555271337716e76596b6266456254566e4e625058657133776456d6d7a504f4b4b41337a71624c

Magic!

You can do it too!

• call();• answer();• _log();• say();• ask();• record();

• Makes a call• Answers the call (when called)• Logs the info about the call• Says something• Says something in a question• Records the call (like

voicemail), with certain parameters, you can transcribe caller input too!

Other Functions To Use

Easy? I know…

Spark Innovation Fund?

$1,000,000 x 150….

I like money too, trust me…

https://developer.ciscospark.com/fund/

Also, don’t forget to tweet at me @tessamero

Thank You

Nom Nom: Consuming REST APIs

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