5 Key Rules To Follow To Get The Best Web API Design

Web API means application programming interface for a web browser. It is a web development concept which includes web frame works and doesn’t include web server implementation unless they are publically accessible by remote. A web API is a programmatic interface, and it consists of more than one endpoints. The request response message system is expressed in XML.

API design is a process of developing a software interface that can expose backend data and application functionality to be used in a new application. The program interface is a set of routines and tools for building the software applications. They specify how the software component should interact.

Hiring Web API Development Company

The web API designs vary according to the nature of client or server-side API. They will have a clear set of HTTP requests and responses to send and get data from the server. Due to a rise of API usage in the past few years, there is a greater demand for Best Web API Development Services. There are benefits of hiring such services.

• They will ensure your data and information is safe on the server.
• A good web API design is needed to enhance user’s experience.
• By hiring API web services, multiple applications would be able to merge in a website.
• API needs to save time and make it simpler to navigate through the hosting website.
• With the help of rest web service, you will be able to communicate with the disconnected system.

A Web API Developer will have expertise in developing various types of API designs and platforms for customer server side. Their service is needed to integrate API with websites for easier navigation. Developers will perform web API integration testing to check functionalities once API is developed. They will improve your API design ensuring security for your server. The company will provide you full maintenance and troubleshooting support. You must use API Development Tools to improve your API design and to ensure complete security of your server.

5 Rules of Web API Design

1. Need a good documentation

Many people hate writing documentation and try using undocumented API. If you want to use your API, it is essential to have good documentation. The first thing users will see is how you have presented your API. If you have presented your API well, people are more likely going to use it.

There are some software tools that simplify the task of documentation. You can write the endpoints and functions of your API to generate the corresponding documentation. You must include examples and tutorials to make your documentation look presentable. Once you are done with the documentation, make sure you validate it to find whether it makes sense to people.

2. Design API endpoints to be documents and provide extra data.

Many developers used to design APIs that can reflect internal database models. This is not a good idea. So you have to design a database model that is normalized and atomic. They should be flexible and efficient. Ensure the database transaction tools control flow and include transaction safety.

Every single request has to be executed in an isolated fashion. One main complaint about REST is that it requires tons of round trips to the server to retrieve the data. You may design an API that can make an extra field optional by default. You must have user requests when needed and reduce database hits and bandwidth.

3. Stability

If you have ever used Facebook’s API, you will know how often they rewrite Their APIs. They are successful because they have lots of users not because their API is great. You should never keep your old version running and supporting for a longer period. You need a much less volatile API. You should plan and version your API from the outset and incorporate a version into the URL.

This helps people to rely on version 1 and can upgrade to subs equate version. A good URL scheme should include major versions in the URL. In addition to this, API needs to be consistent. You must handle common parameters within your API and use shared architecture to reuse data handling throughout your API.

4. They should be flexible

Your API should have some degree of flexibility with regard to output and input constraints. You will find many APIs that support output formats like XML, JSON, and YAML but will support the specifying format in the URL itself. In the case of flexibility, you may allow them to be specified in the URL itself.

You may read and recognize the HTTP header also. Just like there is a variety of output formats, you must allow a variety of input format also. You should support standard POST variables and modern applications that support JSON as well.

5. They should be easy to adopt

This is an important rule you must follow. Make sure people can get up and run with the basic implementation of your API. 15 minutes of tutorial must be included for easy following of your API. Make sure your API is simple, and people can use them for the first time and every time.

You should never do any fancy authentication and crazy customer URL schemes. Use the tools that have been implemented and widely accepted, so that developers can learn your API. It is very important to provide language-specific libraries that can interface with your service. There are some nice tools available that can generate a library automatically for you. It is very important to provide excellent support to an unsophisticated user. Email support, forums, and bug trackers are a fantastic start.

You must hire a Web API development company to meet your design requirements. Make sure you hire an experienced API developer. Unfortunately, a majority of APIs are difficult to use due to a lack of documentation, poor design, and unresolved bugs. But it is possible to design a great web API that will make people enjoy using and you will also enjoy creating as well.