PowerApps to call Azure API App - api

I am new to PowerApps development. I am trying to connect PowerApps to my custom APIs (Azure app api) and getting results of "resource not found". I can call the api from browsers, postman no problem. The .json file I use for PowerApps is the same as the one I use for editor.swagger.io (for testing). I checked the log file of the application on azure, all of the requests from browsers logged but not the ones from PowerApps. My question is, how PowerApps calls APIs and what is the right format of the .json file used for PowerApps app?
Thank you.

I would recommend trying again, we had a small issue on our backend that was causing some 404's at times. A fix for it has been deployed so you might see it work.
PowerApps uses Swagger to determine the shape of the REST api to be able to project those APIs into "formulas" that can be used easily in the client.
Also, for development/troubleshooting purposes I highly recommend using Fiddler to see exactly the REST call that PowerApps is doing and making sure the URL and parameters are correct. If not then look into your swagger definition and make sure there are no issues with the paths provided there.

You might also check that your Azure App API has either:
The PowerApps IP Addresses Whitelisted OR
If available, the "Allow Access to Azure Services" option toggled
When building Azure SQL backends for PowerApps, one of these paths must be followed.

Related

Can I use NextJs API routes to handle both web and mobile app?

I want to create web app in Nextjs and in the future mobile app in React Native. But I am confused what api to use. Do you think that the Nextjs api can handle both web and mobile apps? Is this possible and is it good idea at all? Should I use PHP backend for that? Thank you very much.
With the assumption that you are talking about API Routes :
I would ask you that you think through the scale of your web and app. If this is a simple web/app that you do not expect to grow much - The NextJS API which is similar to standing up an nodejs express server is not a bad option.
Remember a few considerations when designing this API
You may have to distinguish the request origin (web/app)
CORS may have to be customized - Next exposes this
You could set an app specific route to ensure isolation or use headers to distinguish behavior if your application bifurcates in the future.
These concerns are shared even if you made a PHP, ExpresJS or any other API middleware.
Once you are past all this, i would ask you to consider
Using a GraphQL server like Apollo that works nicely with Next and is custom built for this purpose..
Evaluating API Gateways for security and scale.
You don't use any external tools at all.
Next JS has serverless model. So, you don't need to mess with BE.
You can create a number of API routes you want. in /pages/api folder. You can even split like /pages/api/desktop and
/pages/api/mobile folders.
You connect your database (MongDB, sql etc) via /middleware/your_file.js. Here is example for MongoDB
If you like, you can even add some security (ex: Auth0, next-auth
etc) to secure your API routes created in /pages/api folder. Example for Auth0
After, you can access you data througth API calls. Very good!

Create Azure Api App from Swagger meta data

I have created some APIs in API management layer, which are essentially proxies between the calling client and an underlying web api.
I did this by importing the swagger file of the underlying API, and then adding the newly created API to a Product, repeating this for each separate proxy that I needed. This means then that the underlying API could be called but not without the subscriber key of the product that the newly created API was attached to.
Is it possible to do something similar with API apps, i.e. creating API apps using just the swagger file from the underlying API in the azure portal, that act as proxies between the calling client and an underlying web api (as below)?
Do you mind expanding on why do you need to have API Apps acting as proxies?
I am not aware of such capability for API Apps specifically. There are Swagger-based code generation tools available, for example on http://swagger.io/open-source-integrations/. So perhaps you will be able to find something that would work for you.

Azure Websites Authentication / Authorization

I am using new feature of Azure that enables the active directory authentication for your website without writing any code.
http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/13/azure-websites-authentication-authorization/
But the problem is my web application is also hosting some Web APIs, which need to be called without any authentication.
Is there a way (some attributes?) so that I can call Web APIs without any authentication?
Tushar, I see that Byron also replied to your question on his post- and suggested creating another website as for APIs as a work around. However I suggest that you wire-up auth separately for your Web App and APIs following our samples here: https://github.com/AzureADSamples/WebApp-OpenIDConnect-DotNet, https://github.com/AzureADSamples/WebApp-WebAPI-OpenIDConnect-DotNet
Let me know if you run into any issues.
From the very same article you refer:
Current Limitations
There are some limitation to the current preview
release of this feature:
...
With the current release the whole site is placed behind login the
requirement.
Head less authentication/authorization for API scenarios
or service to service scenarios are not currently supported.
So, no, you cannot have partial APIs or pages anonymously available - all pages and API will be protected by the Azure Active Directory.

What online REST API workbenches are available?

When creating a site/script to be on the client end of a RESTful API, what tools are available to create a "workbench" to explore the API, examining headers and responses while working through the design? Preferably one(s) that allow you to enter a custom endpoint, and create sample requests to see the responses. I recall seeing one nice workbench before, but its name has escaped me.
Re-found the one I remembered: The Apigee Console is a great interface for playing around with an existing API or building your own.
Mashery's I/O Docs is an open source workbench that you can deploy yourself on a Node.js server with Redis for storage.
If you have the wadl file of the ReST Services, you can load it in SOAP UI and use it.
EditedAnother much simpler tool Rest Client

Auto-generate an API Explorer for WCF services

If you have ever used the Flickr API, you'll be familiar with their API Explorer. It is an awesome tool, that allows you to view the documentation for each API method, and the killer feature, being the execution of that API method (with a form to populate any request parameters). It even picks up when you are logged in, and completes the authentication part on your behalf. Gowalla has a similar API Explorer that is also really good.
Are there are tools for WCF that will auto-generate such an API Explorer, free or commercial?
Currently, we use Fiddler to build the JSON requests, but I would like to publish these service contracts, and allow potential developers to play around with them via a web based API explorer.
I am aware of the WCF Web HTTP Service Help Page, which I am using (and is awesome), but it is the API Explorer part that I am interested in.
You may want to look at I/O Docs - an open-sourced interactive documentation system for RESTful web APIs that any API owner can use to deploy for their own documentation. It runs on Node.js and uses Redis as a data store.
https://github.com/mashery/iodocs
Example: developer.klout.com/iodocs, developer.rottentomatoes.com/iodocs
It uses JSON schema based files to define API endpoints, method and parameters. Based on these JSON files, it generates a client interface that developers can use to learn and explore your API. API calls can be executed directly from the documentation interface, producing formatted responses.
It's Open-sourced, so you can be assured of regular updates and improvements. In fact this past weekend, Brandon West from SendGrid (who use I/O docs to power their documentation), created and open sourced the UI to create/edit the JSON schema files for I/O Docs. So you don't have to manually create the JSON files anymore.
https://github.com/brandonmwest/iodoctor
Not exactly what you were looking for, but....
WCF provides something called the WCF Test Client, for this purpose.
If you install Visual Studio, you get it. For example, for VS2008, installed in the usual place, you can find the WCF Test Client (WcfTestClient.exe) in the following location:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\
Take a look at Apigee: http://apigee.com/