Building mobile apps is different from building web apps. Developers need to understand the unique demands that mobile apps place on APIs and considerations across different client and back-end platforms. Mobile apps also introduce new issues for security and scalability. WARNING: These slides contain lots of code. We Will Discuss » Why building mobile apps is different A roundup of different client libraries and frameworks Considerations for selecting mobile back-end platforms

1. The Anatomy of Apps
How iPhone, Android & Facebook Apps Consume APIs
Ed Anuff
@edanuff
Sam Ramji
@sramji
Brian Mulloy
@landlessness Apigee
@apigee

2. groups.google.com/group/api-craft

3. youtube.com/apigee

4. New!
IRC Channel
#api-craft

5. App App App World of API Internal
App API
User Store Developer APIs Team Systems

6. Dogs API
/dogs
/owners
Authorization
OAuth 2.0
RESTful API Design - Second Edition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpAhXa12xvU

7. Build an iPhone App, an Android App and a
Facebook Web App*
*Ruby on Rails app hosted on Heroku
http://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/facebook

8. App App App World of API Internal
App API
User Store Developer APIs Team Systems

9. Start with a basic HTTP request

10. Android
HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet("http://api.apizoo.com/v1/dogs");
HttpResponse response = client.execute(httpGet);
iOS
NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL
URLWithString:@"http://api.apizoo.com/v1/dogs"]];
NSData *response = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request
returningResponse:nil error:nil];
Ruby on Rails
require 'net/http'
response = Net::HTTP.get(‘api.apizoo.com/v1’, ‘/dogs’)

11. Parse the data

12. Android
JSONObject dogs = new JSONObject(response);
iOS
import "JSONKit.h"
NSDictionary *dogs = [response objectFromData];
Ruby on Rails
require 'yajl'
parser = Yajl::Parser.new
dogs = parser.parse(response) # returns a hash

13. Resource Object Mapping

14. Route
Map
Use

15. Android Spring Mobile
Route
requestEntity = new HttpEntity<Object>(requestHeaders);
ResponseEntity<Dog> responseEntity =
restTemplate.exchange("http://api.apizoo.com/v1/dogs/15", HttpMethod.GET,
requestEntity, Dog.class);

16. Android Spring Mobile
Map
// Handled with introspection

17. Android Spring Mobile
Use
Dog dog = responseEntity.getBody()

18. iOS RestKit
Route
#import <RestKit/RestKit.h>
RKObjectManager* manager = [RKObjectManager
objectManagerWithBaseURL:@"http://api.apizoo.com/v1"];
RKDynamicRouter* router = [[RKDynamicRouter new] autorelease];
manager.router = router;
[router routeClass:[Dog class] toResourcePath:@"/dogs"
forMethod:RKRequestMethodPOST];
[router routeClass:[Dog class] toResourcePath:@"/dogs/(dogID)"];

19. iOS RestKit
Map
@implementation Dog
+ (NSDictionary*)elementToPropertyMappings {
return [NSDictionary dictionaryWithKeysAndObjects:
@"name", @"color", nil];
}
@end

20. iOS RestKit
Use
Dog* dog = [Dog object];
dog.name = @"Rover";
Dog.color = @"red";
[[RKObjectManager sharedManager] postObject:dog delegate:self];
[[RKObjectManager sharedManager] deleteObject:dog delegate:self];

21. Ruby on Rails ActiveResource
Route
resource :dogs

22. Ruby on Rails ActiveResource
Map
class Dog < ActiveResource::Base
self.site = "http://api.apizoo.com/v1"
end

23. Ruby on Rails ActiveResource
Use
dog = Dog.new name: ‘Rover’, color: ‘red’
dog.save
dog.destroy

24. Cache the response in a database

25. Android Jersey + Jackson
Usage
Roll your own

26. iOS RestKit + Core Data
Usage
#import <RestKit/CoreData/CoreData.h>
RKObjectManager* manager = [RKObjectManager
objectManagerWithBaseURL:@"http://api.apizoo.com/v1"];
manager.objectStore = [RKManagedObjectStore
objectStoreWithStoreFilename:@"DogApp.sqlite"];
@implementation Dog
+ (NSString*)primaryKeyProperty {
return @"dogID";
}
@end

27. Ruby on Rails ActiveResource + ActiveRecord
Usage
class DogResource < ActiveResource::Base
self.site = http://api.apizoo.com/v1
end
class Dog < ActiveRecord::Base
# the before methods call DogResource methods
before_create :create_resource
before_update :update_resource
before_destroy :destroy_resource
end

28. Simple to do list

29. Problem: we want new capabilities in our app not
supported by APIs.

30. Usergrid - Data & Queries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLl56sU5Bt0

31. Android
usergrid_ sdk
iOS
Use RESTKit
Ruby on Rails
Probably not applicable

32. What about offline cases

33. Android
Roll your own
iOS
-(BOOL)reachable {
Reachability *r = [Reachability
reachabilityWithHostName:@"api.apizoo.com/v1"];
NetworkStatus internetStatus = [r currentReachabilityStatus];
if(internetStatus == NotReachable) {
return NO;
}
return YES;
}
Ruby on Rails
Probably not applicable

34. Get authorization out of the way
Assumption: the APIs we consume use OAuth 2

35. Android
Roll your own

36. iOS RestKit
RKObjectManager* objectManager = [RKObjectManager sharedManager];
objectManager.client.baseURL = @”api.apizoo.com/v1";
objectManager.client.OAuth2AccessToken = @"YOUR ACCESS TOKEN";
objectManager.client.authenticationType =
RKRequestAuthenticationTypeOAuth2;

37. Ruby on Rails Oauth Gem
@consumer=OAuth::Consumer.new("key","secret", site: "api.apizoo.com/v1")
@request_token=@consumer.get_request_token
session[:request_token]=@request_token
redirect_to @request_token.authorize_url
@access_token=@request_token.get_access_token

38. Android
Built-in JSON, etc.
Spring Mobile (bundles Jersey & Jackson)
iOS
JSONKit
RestKit
Core Data
Ruby on Rails
YAJL
ActiveResource
Oauth

39. Coming Up: March Miniseries on Apps & APIs

40. Questions?

41. THANK YOU
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42. THANK YOU
Chat on IRC
#api-craft

43. THANK YOU
Questions and ideas to:
groups.google.com/group/api-craft

44. THANK YOU
Contact us at:
@edanuff
ed@apigee.com
@sramji
sramji@apigee.com
@landlessness
brian@apigee.com