This document provides an overview of using Drupal 7 as a web service platform. It demonstrates how to connect a Drupal site to other applications and websites through web services. An example is given of a pizza shop app where the backend is managed through Drupal and customers can order pizzas through a connected frontend app. The document discusses modules like Services and CORS that enable web services in Drupal and provides steps for setting up and testing web services in Drupal.

1. WEB SERVICES CRASH COURSE
Presented by: Noah Lively, Founder of KoreMedia Productions
DRUPAL 7

2. PURPOSE OF THIS CLASS:
Demonstrate how to use Drupal 7 as a
web service endpoint.
Why?
So you can connect apps and other websites to your Drupal
site.

3. ANALOGY:
Let Drupal be the “brain”
Let your apps be the “face”

4. WHY DRUPAL WEB SERVICES:
Because web services are cool
Because a website is much more versatile when it can connect
with other sites
(continued)

5. WHY DRUPAL WEB SERVICES:
Because Drupal provides an excellent hybrid solution between
powerful CMS and web service platform
 Leverage an enterprise-class CMS
 Provide a web-based back-end management interface
via core platform
 Provide a web-based front-end user interface
via core platform
 Provide a mobile app or HTML5 app interface
via web services

6. EXAMPLE APP: PIZZA SHOP
Back-end:
 A Drupal site acts as the application server and content management platform.
 Manager can manage the menu through the Drupal site.
 Drupal site receives orders and notifies the manager.

7. EXAMPLE APP: PIZZA SHOP
Front-end:
 An AngularJS app connects to Drupal and displays pizzas in a responsive web
page.
 Customers can order pizzas from the app, which triggers a server-side email to
the manager (via web services)
 Customers can make menu suggestions by configuring their own pizza topping
combinations. These suggestions get added as “unpublished” nodes to the Drupal
site via web services.

8. MODULES:
Common modules to use and be aware of:
 Services – Core platform that exposes existing data types to Drupal
 Oauth or OAuth2
 CORS – cross-origin resource sharing. Provides necessary web server headers to
allow front-end apps to access the data
 Services Views

9. DRUPAL SETUP:
 Install services module
 Configure a web service endpoint
 Select which web service methods to enable for that endpoint
 Configure authentication (session, oauth or none)
 Install services_views module to use views as web service endpoints
 Write your own service endpoints by implementing hook_services_resources() in
your module

10. TESTING IT OUT:
 Install the Postman extension on Google chrome
 Set up an HTTP request in Postman pointing to your web service method:
 (SITE URL) + (ENDPOINT PATH) + (METHOD NAME).json
 For example usage, download the Postman collection referenced at the end of this
presentation and install it into your local Postman app

11. EXAMPLE CODE:
Example site (includes database dump):
https://github.com/nlively/pizza_shop
Example app:
https://github.com/nlively/pizza_shop_app
Postman collection:
https://www.getpostman.com/collections/26f40e0428bd1ba8c10
9

12. CONTACT ME:
Email: noah@koremedia.net
Twitter: noahlively
Skype: noahlively
Drupal.org: noahlively

13. ABOUT ME:
Noah Lively
 Been involved in Drupal development since 2008.
 Founder and CEO of KoreMedia Productions,
a full-service Rocklin-based Drupal firm
 Co-creator of WindowAgent, a Drupal-backed product that takes real estate
listings from the MLS and exposes them via
a touch screen interface

14. ABOUT KOREMEDIA:
We are a growing team of Drupal devs. Our key strengths are
in connecting Drupal to other platforms and upgrading Drupal
sites (major versions), and optimizing Drupal for the
enterprise.