When you’re testing endpoints with different parameters, you can use one of the many GUI REST clients available to make the requests. Snap converter v2 1 – image and icon conversion tool. (By “GUI,” I mean there’s a graphical user interface with boxes and buttons for you to click.) You can also use curl (which we’ll cover soon), but GUI clients tend to simplify testing with REST APIs.
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With a GUI REST client, you can:
With a GUI REST client, you won’t have to worry about getting curl syntax right and analyzing requests and responses from the command line.
Some popular GUI clients include the following:
Of the various GUI clients available, Postman is probably the best option, since it allows you to save both calls and responses, is free, works on both Mac and PC, and is easy to configure.
A lot of times, abstract concepts don’t make sense until you can contextualize them with an action. In this course, I’m following more of an “experience-first” methodology. After you do an activity, we’ll explore the concepts in more depth. So if it seems like I’m glossing over concepts now, such as what a GET method is or an endpoint, hang in there. When we deep dive into these points in Documenting API endpoints, these concepts will be a lot clearer.
In this exercise, you’ll use Postman to make a request using OpenWeatherMap’s current weather data API endpoint. To make the request:
Click the Params tab (below the box where you inserted the endpoint) and then add the following three parameters in the key and value rows:
For the value for appid, use your own API key. (If you didn’t get an API key, use one of the keys here.) Your Postman UI should look like this:
When you add these parameters, they appear as a query string to the endpoint URL in the GET box. For example, your endpoint will now look like this: https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=95050&units=imperial&appid=APIKEY (but with different query string values and with your own API key instead of APIKEY). Query string parameters appear after the question mark ? symbol and are separated by ampersands &. The order of query string parameters doesn’t matter.
Note that many APIs pass the API key in the header rather than as a query string parameter in the request URL. (If that were the case, you would click the Headers tab and insert the required key-value pairs in the header. But OpenWeatherMap passes the API key as a query string parameter.)
Click Send.
The response appears in the lower pane. For example:
Scroll down a bit and click + Create Collection to create a folder to save the request in. Name your new collection (e.g., “OpenWeatherMap”) and click the orange check mark. Then select the new collection you just created.
After you create the collection, the Save button will be enabled. Your Postman collection should look something like this:
Click Save to [collection name]
Saved requests appear in the left side pane under Collections. (If you don’t see the Collections pane, click the Show/Hide Sidebar button in the lower-left corner to expand it.
Now instead of getting the current weather, let’s use another OpenWeatherMap endpoint to get the forecast. Enter details into Postman for the 5 day forecast request. In Postman, you can click a new tab, or click the arrow next to Save and choose Save As. Then choose your collection and request name.
A sample endpoint for the 5 day forecast, which specifies location by zip code, looks like this:
Add in the query parameters for the API key and units:
(In the above code, replace out APIKEY with your own API key.)
Observe how the response contains a list that provides the forecast details for five days.
Make one more OpenWeatherMap API request, this time changing the way you specify the location. Instead of specifying the location by zip code, specify the location using lat and lon geocoordinates instead. For example:
https://husstentforka1970.mystrikingly.com/blog/rapidweaver-7-1-2-download-free. (In the above code, replace APIKEY with your actual API key.)
Postman has a lot of other functionality you can use. We’ll revisit Postman later in the course for some other activities.
Although Postman is a popular REST client, you can also use others, such as Paw. The following image shows the same current weather API request made in Paw (for Mac):
Like Postman, Paw also allows you to easily see the request headers, response headers, URL parameters, and other data. I like that Paw shows the response in an expandable/collapsible way. The expand/collapse feature can make it easier to explore the response. Note that Paw is specific to Mac only, and like most products for Mac users, costs money.
Now let’s switch APIs a bit and see some weather information from the Aeris Weather API, which you explored a bit in Scenarios for using a weather API. Constructing the endpoints for the Aeris Weather API is a bit more complicated since there are many different queries, filters, and other parameters you can use to configure the endpoint.
Here are a few pre-configured requests to configure for Aeris. You can paste the requests directly into the URL request box in Postman (after customizing the CLIENTID AND CLIENTSECRET values), and the parameters will auto-populate in the parameter fields.
As with the OpenWeather Map API, the Aeris API doesn’t use a Header field to pass the API keys — the key and secret are passed directly in the request URL as part of the query string.
When you make the following requests, insert your own values for the CLIENTID and CLIENTSECRET (assuming you retrieved them in Get the authorization keys).
Get the weather forecast for your area using the observations endpoint:
Get the weather from a city on the equator — Chimborazo, Ecuador using the same observations endpoint:
Find out if all the country music in Knoxville, Tennessee is giving people migraines using the indices endpoint:
You’re thinking of moving to Arizona, but you want to find a place that’s cool. Use the normals endpoint:
With both the OpenWeatherMap and Aeris Weather API, you can also make these requests by simply going to the URL in your address bar (because the APIs are passed in the query string rather than the header). If so, use the JSON Formatter extension for Chrome to automatically format the JSON response in the browser view.
By looking at these two different weather APIs, you can see some differences in the way the information is called and returned. However, fundamentally both APIs have endpoints that you can configure with parameters. When you make requests with the endpoints, you get responses that contain information, often in JSON format. This is the core of how REST APIs work — you send a request and get a response.
Postman has a nifty import feature that will automatically pull in the same requests you’ve been entering. You can click the Run in Postman buttons below to automatically import these two collections into your own instance of Postman.
If this button doesn’t work for you, copy this import link.
If this button doesn’t work for you, copy this import link.
Clicking the Run in Postman buttons should automatically prompt you to import the collections into Postman. If it doesn’t work, copy the import link address and, in Postman, click Import in the upper-left corner. Then click the Import From Link tab, paste in the address and click Import.
If you’d like to learn more about Postman, listen to this interview with the Postman founder. We recorded this as part of the Write the Docs podcast and focused on the documentation features within Postman. For more information on creating the Run in Postman buttons, see the Run in Postman button section in the Getting started tutorial.
15/142 pages complete. Only 127 more pages to go.
Please enable JavaScript to load the comments.Setapp has something for everyone, and that includes professional software developers who need the most powerful tools available. Paw, new to the Setapp family, is a one-stop shop, a robust, Mac-native HTTP client that lets developers build software with APIs.
Now, this is pro software for pro developers: If you don't know acronyms like API, PHP, REST, SSL, and JSON, for example, this probably isn't for you. But let's briefly explain why Paw so helpful.
API stands for application programming interface, and they are basically the building blocks for connected apps. Developers can use an API to request data from another program or service, and the API also defines what kind of data will come back. Think of it like the cable that connects your TV to your Xbox. The Xbox knows how to send out signals, and the TV knows how to convert those signals to the image it's going to display, but you need a compatible cable, or the API, to get that data from one place to another.
Developers might use dozens or even hundreds of APIs in a project, and Paw helps manage the entire process. You can import repositories of APIs, and set up different environments for different projects or for working with different servers or accounts. Paw has robust tools for describing your APIs, including their variables and restraints, so when you're browsing through them later you'll quickly get an idea of what it does.
Paw's clean interface lists your environments in a pane on the left, lets you build your API requests in the center pane, while the relevant code is generated below, ready to copy and paste into your coding project. In the pane on right, you can see what kind of data your request is sending off to the server, and inspect the response it sends back.
But the coolest thing about Paw is its use of Dynamic Values. Dynamic simply means something that changes, so in this case Paw lets you use data from one API response to build another API request—for example, an auth token—and the data gets updated in real time. Paw also supports all the standard authentication schema, as well as letting you configure your own with dynamic values.
If you are a professional software developer looking for the most powerful tools around, look no further than Paw — a one-stop robust Mac-native HTTP client for testing and describing APIs.
Use dozens or even hundreds of APIs in a project without pain, while Paw helps you manage the entire process. You can import repositories of APIs and set up separate environments for different projects or for working with different servers. Plus, Paw has robust tools for describing your APIs, including their variables and restraints, so when you're browsing through them later you'll quickly get an idea of what they do. Here’s how you can include APIs in your work today.
When you are ready to work with Paw, first list all your environments on the left pane. Your active working area for building out API requests would be in the center, and on the right pane, you can see what kind of data requests you are sending off to the server and inspect the response as well.
Dynamic values are Paw’s coolest feature. Basically, they let you use data from one API response to build another API request — for example, an auth token — with all data getting updated in real time. Paw also supports the standard authentication schema and even allows you to use dynamic values to configure your own.
Hallmark casino no deposit codes 2020. While some built-in features like text completion, drawing from a database of HTTP headers, make development much faster, you can add a variety of extensions to Paw and let it do much more. Extend language support, generate documentation from Markdown and Curl, and import to Paw from other formats. Write your own extensions too!
In fact, developers can add extensions to Paw to let it do even more. Extensions can let Paw export code in languages it doesn't support natively, generate documentation from Markdown and Curl, and import to Paw from other formats. Developers are even free to write their own extensions, giving Paw a lot of flexibility.
Web developers who work on the Mac deserve tools made just for them. Paw is native to macOS, so it's fully sandboxed for security. It also takes full advantage of your Mac's computing power, using Apple's Grand Central Dispatch to multithread tasks across your processor's cores, for a faster performance. Its slick text completion feature can speed up your workflow too—it draws from a built-in database of HTTP headers, plus learns from your entries and even suggests dynamic values when they're appropriate. And you can easily sync Paw projects across your machines with Paw Cloud.
Web developers who work on Macs deserve tools made just for them. Paw is native to macOS, so it's fully sandboxed for security. It also takes full advantage of your Mac's computing power, using Apple's Grand Central Dispatch to multithreaded tasks across your processor's cores, for a faster performance.
And not least, you can sync Paw projects easily across your machines with Paw Cloud. For more, refer to Paw’s excellent online documentation and test it out yourself free on Setapp. Just import a project and get started.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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