I am about to build a CRM application in CakePHP. The CRM will require an API for other applications to extract the data.
Applications that are not on the same server will obviously access this via some sort of API caller object that makes an HTTP request to the CRM.
As I understand it, the HTTP request time will increase to the overall load time. For applications on the same server is it possible/is it common practice to access the API by some other means. i.e. including the controller and using the actions ... (im not even sure if this would work as the framework wouldn't be bootstrapped right?). By doing this I am looking to: 1) Reduce load times. 2) Return data as PHP arrays instead of json/xml objects.
In order to return HTTP responses then you need some kind of HTTP server, API's are designed for exactly the reason that you are describing above - they allow multiple applications to access the data in a database by creating an interface to it in a way that can be controlled and standardised.
If you design your API well, have it return JSON objects then the average response shouldn't be a problem as you will only be returning a small amount of text.
Getting a PHP array from a JSON object is as simple as json_decode($json_object, true);
If you are using CakePHP to create an API you should look at using the awesome CRUD plugin by Friends of Cake
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I primarily deal with REST json APIs at my work. So I am familiar with them. But for my own project I am trying out app engine as I believe it is a great fit.
I had already started writing my logic in python (using ferris), and in reading more on app engine I came across protorpc and cloud endpoints. But in most of the examples I have read, they seem to be doing the same just as I would do in a rest api. Make a request with json, and get a json response back. Or an error.
The main difference I see, is that in rest, the endpoints are based around a resource. And the HTTP verbs around them such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc. Where as in RPC, each request would have it's own endpoint rather than be based around a resource or model.
Both are requested with, and respond with json. So I think I am failing to see the benefit of using Google endpoints. Do they offer some other kind of benefit? I could maybe see better analytics tracking with endpoints. But wouldn't I still need to the use post http verb for modifying content?
Would any of this change if I was using certain frameworks? Like django. Although I am currently testing out Ferris which has a messaging system that deals with protorpc. Although, I have not been able to rest or yet.
So what am I missing? What are the benefits of endpoints over just making my object methods handle a json request. Do socket connections play into this at all?
You can do both by using endpoints to make a RESTful API.
protorpc/endpoints doesn't magically make your API RESTful. You have to make your API RESTful within the endpoints framework, which uses protorpc.
The benefits of using endpoints is that you can get a lot of the authentication work done easily (assuming you're going to use Google accounts), the serialization/deserialization is done for you, your client libraries can be generated for you, and more than just a Javascript client can be supported. If these things sound good, endpoints may be right for you. If these things don't apply, then maybe be more direct and use RequestHandlers yourself.
I was able to make a simple API using endpoints. It has 3 main resources: records, datasets and moves. A Record object is the smallest unit of data. The Dataset object is a group of records. And the Move object represents the event of a Dataset changing location.
My RESTful URIs look like this:
GET /records # Get list of records
GET /records/<id> # Get single record
POST /records # Create records
GET /datasets # Get list of datasets
GET /datasets/<id> # Get single dataset
POST /datasets # Create dataset
GET /moves # Get list of moves
GET /moves/<id> # Get single move
POST /moves # Create move
With this I can create data, organize it and move it around. I was able to do this completely within the endpoints framework on App Engine and it is RESTful.
I am working on a project in MVC that has mobile application so one thing is clear that we have to use Web API so it can used in mobile application.
After creating API when we started to develop Web site we are confused and had discussion on whether to use API or directly access to the Business object. And we ended up after having opinion form more experienced developer to consume Web API instead of using Business object directly.
I'm having confusion regarding to this solution structure.
1) Why we should use Web API and make HTTP request (which is time consuming) to get or put data instead of business object directly which is in same solution.
2) After having arguments they said what if client wants to host API and web on different cloud server and apply scaling only on API or may be he want to have different url for accessing API and Web (which is some what logical). So in that case should we call Web API from MVC application in same solution?
3) If we're hosting API and Web on different hosting so it means our Web will use WebClient and have HTTP call on each navigation. Is it right?
4) If we'll business object form both API and Web hosting on different server then if something change in BL will need to update build on both server.
5) Or we should create only one project for API and can add views or html pages to develop Web interface so in that way we can directly call API from ajax.
As per my knowledge #5 is the best solution or API is only for 3rd party access. If we have DB, EF, data layer and business layer in same solution then we should not use API to make HTTP calls and directly access business object. (correct me if I'm wrong)API is needed when mobile application or desktop or any one want to access application so we can have same repository and data layer.
In my scenario I've to create API as we also have mobile application, and in project API side we called business layer (separate project) and business layer communicate to data access layer (separate project). So my question is if we host our API and web to different servers then calling API which is a HTTP request may take longer rather than using method from business layer as we create the project and we've .dll of business layer. In API controller we just convert out put of our business to json format.
I've searched on internet but didn't get convincing answer. I've found a blog http://odetocode.com/blogs/scott/archive/2013/07/01/on-the-coexistence-of-asp-net-mvc-and-webapi.aspx discussing same point but again in that blog my question is why we need to consider scenario #3?
I think you have answered your own question in writing, but really this boils down entirely to what your requirements are, and perhaps more importantly, what the strategy for your application is.
First of all, using Web Api over accessing Business Objects directly (by which I think you mean through viewmodels etc) only makes sense if you are controlling access of data client side.
If you only have a requirement for consuming data from client side within a particular application, then hosting Web API within the same project makes sense. Sometimes, for instance when building a SPA or rich-client web app, then using Web Api within the same projhect is sufficient, as they are only intended to be consumed by that application.
Where you see a requirement for different versions of the same application (mobile, tablet, web etc), then moving the Web Api to a separate project makes sense, as each application can then access the same API. This Web Api would contain your data access and business logic layers within it. This allows complete separation of your projects then, and provides maximum reusability, and ensures consistency in data between different versions of your project. Obviously with this set up, your Web Api layer is seperate and can be tested/deployed/scaled separately.
So in summary, you need to consider your requirements and assess the technologies available to you to achieve them. Using the above I hope you understand where Web Api fits in and what it can provide.
I am trying to do my first App which is a basic joke app that uses tableViews and allows users to add their own jokes to the app database. My problem is in the networking department and I think I'm getting confused with all that is out there. I have a couple basic questions that I was hoping to get answers or opinions on:
I am really confused about the path that is taken from the app on the iphone to the database that is holding the data. Does the tableview controller call a AFNetworking object, that then sends a JSON object to a server-side script(??), that then queries a SQL database and returns the data? I am just looking for a basic path that allows the user to add their own joke to the database.
Is this a URL request? When I see URL request I think of a web page.
I have a website that is hosted on GoDaddy.com. Is this also sufficient to hold the database for the jokes on the iOS app?
I have been searching for days and have gotten no simple answer. I just want to study the correct subjects instead of wasting time. ANY help or pointers would be appreciated.
You have two forms of storage here - some form of web store (such as a server database technology like MySQL) and the local iOS CoreData (if you want to store locally, or make a new request every time thus requiring a connection). You can use web requests (perhaps using the AFNetworking library) to ensure that the local store and the online store match. A typical flow could be for example - on app launch perform a GET request to pull all jokes from the server using a service URL that returns a JSON file, then update Coredata. To upload a new joke, use a POST request which performs a similar function.
A 'URL request' maps to a web technology which uses some form of logic to determine how to return some data. For example, the request may arrive at a web server (such as Apache) which routes your request to a PHP controller file which then talks with the database and returns your data.
GoDaddy is a hosting platform that supports PHP and MySQL (amongst other technologies that will do the same trick), so yes.
In your situation, I would study the Model-View-Controller design pattern. Your app will be a great learning experience I think, you should pick up a lot of core concepts.
EDIT to answer your question in the first comment:
Your question:
1. Are JSON files stored on the device or the server? 2. Does JSON replace JavaScript?
Answers:
JSON is short for JavaScript Object Notation, it's just a way of representing data and doesn't replace anything. It's particularly useful because most languages support parsing JSON in a way that the technology understands. It's a handy way of sending data around because it's pretty lightweight and is widely supported.
In a case like this, the JSON would probably not be stored on the server. The data would be stored in a database. Your request will be mapped to a server side technology such as PHP or Ruby which will then ask the database for the information, convert it to JSON for sending and return it to the client. (It is possible to store data on a server in a JSON file, but you would have to write your server side code to manipulate the JSON file directly, it would be hard work and way less elegant!)
The client (in this case an iOS device) will parse the JSON into an object that Objective-C can play with, like an NSDictionary.
Hope that helps!
I'm fairly new to VB.net programming. I'd like some suggestions for methods/procedures for sending real time data from a VB.net app to a web server (asp.net) for real time display. My question relates to the best method to send the data from the desktop app and the best way to receive and handle the data on the server. I'm not asking for sample code, just some idea of what methods to research. I am currently using a text file upload method but I'm sure there is a more efficient way of achieving this. Thanks in advance for your help.
For sending data to the server, you may research about webservice or WCF.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/dd939784
For retrieving data from the server to your ASP.Net application, you can research about AJAX.
http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp
http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/
If you are using the MVC framework for ASP.NET (which I strongly recommend over WebForms), MVC4 which has recently gone into RC mode features a very nice new web API:
http://www.asp.net/web-api
"ASP.NET MVC 4 includes ASP.NET Web API, a new framework for creating HTTP services that can reach a broad range of clients including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is also an ideal platform for building RESTful services."
It allows you to define quite simple methods on the server which work directly with your actual domain objects and it does the work of returning data in an appropriate content type (e.g. JSON, XML) based either on the incoming request or a specific configuration you may set.
Your web app could then poll the GET methods on the same API controller class via Ajax (jQuery is nice) to display the results.
I have an application which I am currently writing an API. This is the first time I have created an API from start to finish and have read lots of good articles and how to do this. However a lot of that material focuses on the API development specifically (as it should) but have not found anything that touches on how to ensure the API doesn’t get broken by changes which happen within the application project.
My application consists of a ASP.NET MVC web app which makes calls to a Service Layer to undertake CRUD like operations. So to get a list of all the users in my app the MVC app calls the service layer and asks for them and is presented with a collection of users. My API (WCF Web API) also uses this service layer internally and when I request a list of users, again I get back a collection of users (JSON, XML etc).
However if for some reason another developer changes the underlying User domain object by renaming a field say surname to last name then this potentially is going to break my API as the Service Layer is going to return to my API a user object with a new field name when its expecting something else. My API does in fact have its own representation of objects which get mapped to the application objects when requested but this mapping will not map the surname property and will be returned as null.
Therefore do all changes in the app have to be strictly controlled because I provide an API? If so then do you have to change your app and API in tandem? What if changes are missed? The aforementioned doesn’t seem correct to me hence my post to seek greater knowledge.
Again I’m quite new to this so any help on this would be much appreciated.
It is inevitable that your application will evolve, if you can create new versions of an API as you applications evolve and support the older versions, then give notice of when older APIs will become obselete.
If you are owning the API design and you don't really want anyone to pollute your design. Introduce dedicate DTOs for your API use. Which be mapped from the underpinning domain models. But your presentation (via xml or json) won't change even underlying models change frequently.