Creating an API

Actor: Portal Administrator

Procedure

  1. Log in to the API Manager Portal as a portal administrator.
  2. Select the APIs tab and click Create New API.

    The Create New API page appears.

  3. Enter the information to define the API:
    • API name

      Enter a name for the API.

    • Description

      Enter description for the API.

    • API Type

      Choose the API type from the options in the drop-down list: REST and SOAP. The default API type is REST.

  4. Upload the API specifications and documentation for the API:
    Note: Specification artifacts must be available for upload.
    1. Upload REST API Spec

      If the API is a REST API, to add a REST API specification, click Add Files, and then browse for and select the Swagger specification files to be added. Ensure that the file format is JSON. After the files are selected, click Start Upload to upload the selected files.

    2. Upload WSDL API Spec

      If the API is a SOAP API, to add WSDL API specification, click Add Files, and then browse for and select the WSDL specification files to be added. After the files are selected, click Start Upload to upload the selected files.

      Note: Prior to release 2.2.0, WSDL files could not be supported by the operations created. PHP extensions of SOAP are parse to WSDL files so that the SOAP data are saved and realized.
    3. REST resource path

      Enter the REST resource path for the REST API. This field is applicable to REST APIs and can be left empty for APIs of type SOAP.

      Note: The REST API resource paths specified must be unique for a product. Specifying duplicate resource paths might result in the swagger specifications being displayed incorrectly in the API explorer.
    4. Environments

      Click Choose and select one or more environments in which the APIs are provisioned and are usable.

  5. Enter information for the API documentation:
    • Attached Documentation Files

      Click Add Files to add one or more documentation files for the API and then click Start Upload to upload the selected file.

    • Inline documentation

      Enter inline documentation text as required.

  6. Click Save.

    An API detail page for the new API appears. This page shows the API specification, description, API type, and resource path for the API.

  7. Specify the following information.
    • Contact

      Contact for the API. Click Create New to create a new contact or click Choose to choose the contact for the API.

    • Owner Organization

      Name of the organization that owns the API. The value is assigned automatically.

    • Contained in Products

      Click Choose, and then from the list of products, choose the products that will use the API.

    • Operations

      Operations can be added to the API after the API is created. Depending on the type of the API, the portal administrator might need to add operations to the newly created API. Note the following mechanisms:

Result

For SOAP APIs and REST APIs, the operations are picked up from the specification and automatically added to the API.

Actor: API Explorer

In release 2.2.0, you can use the API Explorer for SOAP APIs in the same as a REST API.

Procedure

  1. Attach the SOAP API to a product.
  2. Navigate to the Product Details page, and then click the API Explorer tab.
    Now you have access to the SOAP operations of the API and you can test them by providing valid parameters based on the specification of API.