Programming coldfusion with APIs

Programming with APIs Nick Tong http://TalkWebSolutions.co.uk http://succor.co.uk Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

Agenda

Who the hell is this guy?

What are APIs?

So what?

Mash ups

Connecting to APIs

Examples of APIs

Reliability

Where is this all heading?

Who the hell are you?

CF developer for 7 years

Blogger for over 1 year

Wanna be extreme dude…

You decide!

API?

Abbreviation of A pplication P rogram I nterface , a set of routines , protocols , and tools for building software applications .

A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks. A programmer simply puts the blocks together.

APIs define the complete methods by which a programmer can access and control a given system.

So what!

The Web of documents has morphed into a Web of data. We are no longer just looking to the same old sources for information. Now we’re looking to a new set of tools to aggregate and remix microcontent in new and useful ways.

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_2_for_designers/

Ben Forsaith

Why is this a good idea? Application

Application B Application C Application A

Application A Application C Application B

Allows rule implementation

Fix problems easier

Improve scalability

Working with APIs

Take data (or content) aka INFORMATION

from one or several locations

and present them as you see fit!

What does this bring?

Separation of concerns

Information Vs Layout

http://flickr.com/photos/b4r7/14001542/

http://www.programmableweb.com

Some examples

Some examples cont…

Some examples cont… http://flickr.com/photos/gisuser/62266454/ Alertdude Google Mashup maps Florida sexual offenders

Why not?

Associate ID required

Non Commercial use

Non competition clause

Plus others

Take the BBC for example, we pay for it then we’re are only allowed to use a restricted subset!

How do we get the data?

Web services

REST ( RE presentational S tate T ransfer)

SOAP ( S imple O bject A ccess P rotocol)

XML-RPC

JSON

Flash Remoting

REST vs SOAP

REST

Messages are represented in plain XML

HTTP is used for the transfer protocol

HTTP verbs are used for access/manipulation commands

URIs are used to uniquely identify resources in message

HTTP authentication provides security

There is no formal method for expressing the interface contract

SOAP

Messages are represented in a standardized XML SOAP "envelope"

Can be bound to various protocols including HTTP and SMTP

Access to and manipulation of data are application specific

Security is not described by SOAP and is to be provided by the developer

XML schemas are used to define the contract between client and service

http://res.sys-con.com/story/apr05/79282/fig1.jpg http://res.sys-con.com/story/apr05/79282/fig2.jpg

http://res.sys-con.com/story/apr05/79282/table1.jpg

I’m A RESTafarian http://flickr.com/photos/pantagrapher/17089865/

Okay show me the good stuff!

Lets look as some code:

Simple Example

Yahoo APIs

But what about reliability?

Use Meta APIs

i.e. Mapstraction

Cache data – only call new data if its required

Their success is through your success

Sum things up already!

APIs are a great way to make content available to multiple applications

Upgrades and saleability to be more manageable

Separation of concerns

Rapid development

Grows applications

Makes large site possible

Exciting via mash ups

Fun

One last thing Microformats

Microformat types

People and Organizations

hCard

Calendars and Events

hCalendar

Opinions, Ratings and Reviews

VoteLinks , hReview

Tags, Keywords, Categories

rel-tag

Lists and Outlines

XOXO

Social Networks

XFN

Licenses:

rel-license

What are microformats? D esigned for humans first and machines second, microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards.

Credits