CA Live API Creator 4.1

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API Creator Overview

CA Live API Creator
 is a low-code solution to creating APIs and microservices. You can create APIs and services that are secure, cost efficient, and easy to maintain through iterative development. You can use  to integrate data across disparate cloud-based or on-premise data sources. For example, these data sources can be SQL databases, NoSQL databases, cloud APIs, and software components.  offers ease and efficiency of modernizing application architectures by way of APIs and microservices.
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CA Live API Creator
 is a low-code solution to creating APIs and microservices. You can create APIs and services that are secure, cost efficient, and easy to maintain through iterative development. You can use 
CA Live API Creator
 to integrate data across disparate cloud-based or on-premise data sources. For example, these data sources can be SQL databases, NoSQL databases, cloud APIs, and software components. 
CA Live API Creator
 offers ease and efficiency of modernizing application architectures by way of APIs and microservices.
CA Live API Creator
 provides declarative definition of the following services:
  • API.
     Create the default API by connecting to your database: GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE for each table, including GET/POST access to each view and stored procedure. You can create nested document resources or endpoints.
  • Data integration.
     You can combine data from multiple sources (SQL, Mongo, and RESTful), including updates between them, by defining resources.
  • Security.
     Enforces endpoint access and row/column security.
  • Logic.
     Enforces database integrity on updates, with a combination of spreadsheet-like rules and server-side JavaScript. Rules automate multi-table chaining and SQL handling. They are 40 times more concise than conventional code.
In this article:
 
 
CA Live API Creator
 System Components
The following 
CA Live API Creator
 system components provide an application backend for internal applications, mobile development projects, data-as-a-service (DaaS) exposure, Internet of Things (IoT) enablement, and integration with partner applications.
For more information about the system components, see Architecture.
Client Applications
 
CA Live API Creator
 includes the following client applications:
  • API Creator
    API Creator is the web console that you use to specify your API, your logic, your database location, and your security settings. API Creator is an HTML5/JavaScript user interface (UI) that runs in a browser. Your base tables are the REST resources, supporting GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests. You can define resources explicitly in API Creator. Table-based resources provide a data abstraction layer for database access, where you can alias the data that you want to present, and provide joins for a document model for nested data.
  • Data Explorer
    Data Explorer creates an executable and running multi-table UI to your underlying data in API Creator. You can test, prototype, perform back-office data maintenance to your API, and view data for existing systems, using Data Explorer.
    For more information about Data Explorer, see Data Explorer.
API Server
API Server is the back-end service and web application that stores your security settings. API Server enforces these security settings while processing REST retrieval/update requests. Typical clients are web/mobile applications or other systems.
The Admin Database
The admin database is the meta repository where API Server stores your APIs–including the resources, logic, security settings, filters–and the Data Explorer settings.
Overview of Creating APIs
API creation is more than providing a simple interface. The API Creator interface is only the tip of the iceberg. The following image illustrates how API Creator provides a fully functional application backend:
  
The Service Map
As you explore and use API Creator, the service map illustrates your location within the context of the 
CA Live API Creator
 service components. The service map also illustrates the interfaces that are available for you to use to interact with those service components.
  ServiceMap4.0.png  
You can view the service map on the Use Cases tab in the Learning Center in API Creator. To view the Learning Center, with your API open, in the Favorites section, click 
Learning Center
, and then click the 
Use Cases
 tab.
Use Cases
The following use cases apply to using 
CA Live API Creator
:
Use Case Category
Area
Approach
Integrate Multiple Data Sources
Integrate multiple databases
 
Example:
 Integrate and expose data from multiple databases as APIs.
Follow these steps:
  1. Create an API by connecting to an existing database.
  2. Add a new data source to your API to connect to another database.
  3. Create virtual relationships between related tables from the databases.
  4. Create resources for a database abstraction layer.
  5. Declare business logic for integrity and security.
 
Create Application Backends
 
Web/Mobile Backends
When designing web/mobile/IoT applications, it is a good practice to separate your business logic and data access layers from the presentation layer. This separation speeds up your development by factoring logic out of client applications and parallelizing client and server development. 
 
Follow these steps:
 
  1. Create an API for a database by completing one of the following options:
    • Connect to existing databases.
    • Create a managed database within a managed data server using Data Explorer. This approach results in an instantly and constantly running system, facilitating collaboration with stakeholders.
  2. Explicitly define resources in your API to provide a data abstraction layer for database access.
  3. Declare business logic for data integrity and security.
IoT Backends
IoT solutions often communicate through MQTT messaging. As the front devices serve as data collection points, backend services must allow you to store, view, and/or perform computation on your data. This is needed to support the analytics and data processing to make your data valuable.
Follow these steps:
  1. Create an API for a database by completing one of the following options:
    • Connect to existing databases.
    • Create a new managed database using Data Explorer.
  2. Create resources for a database abstraction layer.
  3. Create MQTT Listeners to subscribe to MQTT messages.
    • Write JavaScript code in your listener to parse these messages.
    • Call PUT/POST requests to your custom resources based on your processing needs.
  4. Declare business logic for integrity and security.
 
Data Processing Systems
 
Back-office data maintenance
Usually, you create custom user interface (UI) applications that are based on your API. You might also have back-office data processing systems where the UI requirements match Data Explorer, which 
CA Live API Creator
 includes. Data Explorer offers automatic creation of a web application, which you can customize. This approach can avoid the higher costs for custom UI development.
 
Follow these steps:
 
  1. Create an API for a database by completing one of the following options:
    • Connect to existing databases.
    • Create a new managed database using Data Explorer.
  2. Declare business logic for integrity and security.
  3. In Data Explorer (in Author Mode), define the look-and-feel of your UI.
  4. Use Data Explorer for data inquiry/maintenance.
 
Systems Integration
Catch and throw webhooks
This use case is separately listed because stakeholders often imagine the system as intended for integration. In fact, the 
Create Application Backends
 and the 
Data Processing Systems
 use cases typically involve integration.
When you do not have direct access to systems, you can define APIs that perform the mapping and transformation that is required for integration, while minimizing the impact or changes to the systems involved. In situations where your data is coming from disparate cloud-based or on-premise data sources, you can provision these data quickly with APIs customized and security that is configured to the requirements of the applications that are built. 
 
Example:
 Persist the request data and process a webhook that accepts changes from System-A and updates System-B by creating an integration database.
 
Follow these steps:
 
  1. Create a database to store the requests.
    When you do not manage the target system, it is often beneficial to create an extra integration database to persist the request data. This database can ease debugging and can facilitate problem diagnosis. This additional database enables you to support more APIs and extend the set of database tables (in or outside the original schema).
    If you do not require persistence, you can create functions or custom endpoints.
  2. Define a resource to catch the webhook (an incoming POST).
    This resource provides the mapping and transformation to adapt external API agreements to your database and, if needed, comma-separated value (CSV) and XML conversion to JSON.
    For more information about exploring an example, see the Business to Business (B2B) 
    PartnerOrder
     resource.
  3. Create a request event for the resource to address lookups, for example, to look up a ProductID given a ProductName.
  4. Define the business logic using a table event on the table that is used to persist the request to throw webhooks to update the target system.
    For more information about exploring the basic approach to using events to throw webhooks, see the B2B 
    Process Shipper
     webhook commit event in the Business to Business Example.
Publish and subscribe to messages
Example:
 Facilitate systems integration by message routing. Microservices architectures recommend autonomous operation. If a service is unavailable, then the other service can operate.
Follow these steps:
  1. Create an API for a database by completing one of the following options:
    • Connect to existing databases.
    • Create a new managed database using Data Explorer.
  2. Publish messages from table events that are based on your defined business logic.
  3. Subscribe to messages from another system or subscribe to messages using listeners in your API.
  4. Process the incoming message that is received in the listener.
Data monitoring
Example:
 Data monitoring and post data to other systems.
Follow these steps:
  1. Create an API by completing one of the following options:
    • Connect to existing databases.
    • Select the Code First approach.
  2. Monitor data such as changes to files within a directory or changes to data in the database (for example, due date checking, row changes last run) by creating a timer.
    For more information about how to create a timer, see Creating Timers.
  3. Define your business logic to post data to other systems or alert users (for example, send email, messages, start business processes). 
Service Orchestration
Service orchestration is the process of integrating two or more services together to automate a process or synchronize data in real time. This process is a contained approach to address costly point-to-point integration which is tightly integrated while enabling quicker turnaround services orchestration and execution.
Example:
 Calling multiple APIs from external systems.
Follow these steps:
  1. Create an API by selecting the Code First approach.
  2. Create a resource and write custom JavaScript code to call the API. This resource handles the mapping or transformation of data before providing the response.
As a new user to 
CA Live API Creator
, you can get an understanding of how you can address these use cases using API Creator by following the steps that are outlined in the Quick Start.
For more information about the Quick Start, see Quick Start.