Foundation::API

Foundation::API is the interface for external clients to express interest in "available units". It's meant to be a reusable interface for residential development websites.

Installation

gem 'foundation-api', git: '[email protected]:noeassociates/foundation-api.git'

Development Server

The foundation-api repository includes a development Rack application that can be used for testing API clients. From inside the repository, run bundle to install the dependencies, and then bundle exec rackup to start the development server at http://localhost:9292.

Usage

If using Rails, the Foundation::API endpoints can be mounted in your routes:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  mount Foundation::API => '/api'
  mount Foundation::Documentation => '/api'
end

If your application is Rack-based, mount the endpoints as you would a normal Rack application.

Visit /api/docs in your application to view the endpoints exposed by Foundation::API.

Configuration

There are two configuration options available. These can be set up in an initializer if you're using Rails, otherwise configuration should be set once in your boot process.

Foundation.config do |f|
  f.unit_class = Unit
  f.builders << MyUnitBuilder
end

The unit_class option defaults to a null class that will return empty data sets. unit_class must be set to the class that represents Units in the database of you application. Foundation::API expects that this class responds to the name and id methods.

The builders option is an array of classes that will receive the parameters passed to the interest endpoint. Builder classes must inherit from the base Foundation::Builder, and must implement a build method. A sample builder might look like this:

class UnitBuilder < Foundation::Builder

  def build(params)
    Unit.create params
  end

end

The attribute request is also available inside of a Builder class, if additional data about the request should be recorded.

class IPLoggerBuilder < Foundation::Builder

  def build(*)
    Rails.logger.warn("#{request.ip} posted a request")
  end

end

If you need to return some value to the request, the build method can accept an additional argument that represents the response hash (actually a Hashie::Mash):

class TalkativeBuilder < Foundation::Builder

  def build(params, response)
    response.greeting = 'Hi!'
  end

end

Multiple Builders can be configured and the params hash will be passed to each in the order they are added.

Foundation.config do |f|
  f.builders << UnitBuilder
  f.builders << IPLoggerBuilder
end