API (Application Program Interface) Sophia Pandey, Ryan Amundson, & Jessica Betts

Outline What is an API? / Who uses API’s? API Pros and Cons Security Concerns 3rd Party Authentication JSON RESTful API Routing / Status Codes / HTTP Requests Tools + Examples Mashup

What is an API? Application Programming Interface A way for programmers to communicate with an application ”“is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. The API specifies how software components should interact and APIs are used when programming graphical user interface (GUI) components.

Who uses API’s?

Most Popular APIs Facebook Google Maps Twitter Youtube AccuWeather

API Pros and Cons Pros: Cons: -less work for developers -security -user convenience - dependency -site capabilities

Security Concerns Problem arises with how API’s are coded Not the concept Review code prior to release Security expert Test on multiple platforms and browsers Developers - include how to guide in documentation Development - balance speed with attention to detail http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/tip/API-security-How-to-ensure-secure-API-use- in-the-enterprise

API’s - 3rd Party Authentication Redirection occurs Facebook Example Commonly use OAuth protocol Focuses on client developer simplicity Provides specific authorization https://parse.com/tutorials/adding-third-party-authentication-to-your-web-app http://oauth.net/2/ Create and save a reference to this request Redirect the user to the third-party login endpoint Process an inbound redirect from the third-party site Validate the request with the third-party service

JSON/XML JavaScript Object Notation Extensible Markup Language Object for efficiently storing and moving data Uses objects and arrays to nest information Readability Extensible Markup Language Uses tags similar to HTML Nests data between tags Uses attributes for metadata http://jsonapi.org/

RESTful API What is REST? REpresentational State Transfer Why should I use it? Simplicity of interfaces(Client-Server, Uniform) Stateless Modifiability of components to meet changing needs ( (even while the application is running) Visibility of communication between components by service agents (Middleware) Portability of components by moving program code with the data Reliability at the system level(Modular, Resilient)

HTTP Requests CRUD for API’s GET {Controller}/{Action} Retrieve a resource POST Create a resource PUT Update a resource DELETE Remove a resource {Controller}/{Action} {Controller}/{Action}/{ID} www.example.com/...

Routing URL pattern mapped to a handler Server side handling of API request Receives incoming http request Middleware evaluates request Route determines resources to manipulate Data returned as JSON or XML

Status Codes - 1xx: informational - 2xx: Success - 3xx: Redirection - 4xx: Client Error - 5xx: Server Error

Tools + Examples Postman API testing tool Oxford University Google Geocode: maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Oxford%20University,%20uk&sensor=false Beyonce Itunes search API: itunes.apple.com/search?term=beyonce&entity=musicVideo Go to: ryanamundson.com:8000

Mashup Combination of many APIs used together to create a new application E.g. google maps and photo locations Enterprise mashups Companies resources combined with external sources Consumer mashups wikipediavision(shows where edits are from with google maps) Data mashups Combination of resources for a new and distinct web service.

Mashups Popular Mashups: Infogr.am vineOS Google charts, maps and analytics vineOS Google analytics, UPS, PayPal and more E-commerce IBM Watson message resonance API