Build a RESTful API with Node in 10 Minutes

Presents as a Lightning Talk at Cardinal Solutions Group, Charlotte, NC, on April 25, 2017

Transcript

1. Build a RESTful API with Node in 10 Minutes Van Wilson @vanwilson
2. Why an API? Using a RESTful API as a web service allows you to have a single source of truth for your data that you can consume in many different ways. • Website (with either client-side or server-side front-end) • Hybrid mobile app • Native mobile app • Desktop app • Command-line app • Other Services (e.g., Jira, Bamboo, and GitHub APIs can all talk to each other)
3. REST Perform requests and receive responses via HTTP Stateless Client-server Cacheable Resource-first HTTP verbs correspond to actions
4. HTTP Protocol Easy to use, Easy to test HTTP library for any language Test GET and POST right in a browser REST Client (Postman, Paw) Use on command line (curl, wget)
5. Why Node? Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient. Node.js’ package ecosystem, npm, is the largest ecosystem of open source libraries in the world. • Built-in http package (low-level, roll your own) • Express (de facto standard) • Koa, or thousands of other new contenders (it is JavaScript, remember?) https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=http => 27922 packages found for "http"
6. CRUD Create - Read - Update - Delete At a basic level, it’s easy to use a REST API to implement CRUD for a resource.
7. Example of a resource: /recipes
8. Rule of thumb for the example app Just the first of these three goals... • Make It Work • Make It Right • Make It Fast
9. CREATE HTTP POST verb Request URL: /recipes Action: POST Payload: { "name": "Pie" } Response Status: 201 Body: { "name": "Pie", "id": 1 }
10. READ HTTP GET verb Request URL: /recipes Action: GET Payload: (none) Response Status: 200 Body: [ { "name": "Pie", "id": 1 }, { "name": "Cake", "id": 2 } ]
11. READ (just one) HTTP GET verb Request URL: /recipes/:recipeId e.g., /recipes/2 Action: GET Payload: (none) Response Status: 200 Body: { "name": "Cake", "id": 2 }
12. UPDATE HTTP PUT verb Request URL: /recipes/:recipeId e.g., /recipes/1 Action: PUT Payload: { "name": "Pecan Pie" } Response Status: 200 Body: { "name": "Pecan Pie", "id": 1 }
13. DELETE HTTP DELETE verb Request URL: /recipes/:recipeId e.g., /recipes/1 Action: DELETE Payload: (none) Response Status: 204 Body: (none)
14. Example repos https://github.com/vjwilson/your-first-node-api https://github.com/vjwilson/recipes https://github.com/vjwilson/recipes-frontend