API Basic
Table of contents
HTTP request method
GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH
Query parameter
value
|
https://example.com/students?name=john&age=17
|
parameter name (key)
- Query => to search
- Parameter => a value that you can set to refine the search
- Part of the url
- Used to pass data
- Typically optional
- The API dictates th name of the parameters
Path parameter
- Path => the location of the resource
- Parameter => a value that you can set (variable)
Postman example
-
URL: GET http://example.com/people/john/lists.json
-
Path variables:
:username
=> parsingjohn
-
Postman GET: http://example.com/people/:username/lists.json
HTTP cookies header
- Cookies are rarely used for APIs
- Cookies are used to store small amounts of data on the client’s computer
- Cookies are sent as headers
- The response may contain a header
SET-cookie
- The request may contain a header
cookie
API documentation
Swagger
github jobs API
Yelp
Twitter API
Google Image search API
REST Structure
REST stands for:
- Representation
- State
- Transfer
Software architectural style:
- No official standard
- REST defines a set of architectural constraints
- Many API calls themselves “REST” without actual respecting all constraints.
CURD
- Create
- Read
- Update
- Delete
Resource & Resource Identifiers
http://example.com/orders
http://example.com/orders/[93246] --> **unique identifier**
http://exmaple.com/[customers/84652/orders] --> **endpoint**
What is JSON?
JavaScript Object Notation, example format:
{
"KEY": "VALUE",
"firstName": "John",
"age": 29,
"hobbies": ["netflix", "biking", "so on"],
"nested Json Format": {
"phone": 123456,
"email": "example"
}
}
- Test out using
httpbin.org
curl -X POST http://httpbin.org/anything --data {"user":"john"}