mharris717 / api-explorer

GUI tool to map any JSON-based Web API, plus node server to access it as if it were a HAL Hypermedia API

API Explorer

This is a tool which provides a web-based GUI to map any JSON-based REST-like API within minutes, and subsequently access the mapped APIs through a HAL-compliant wrapper hypermedia API, and thus in a uniform manner.

Read the whole thesis: HTML, PDF.

Getting started

1. Install:
   1. Node.js
   2. MongoDB.
   3. OpenResty – Nginx with modules: used as a proxy server to circumvent the browser's same-origin policy
2. Start mongod
3. Start OpenResty with the provided config: openresty -c /absolute/path/to/openresty.conf
4. Have a look at config.js and see whether the settings match your setup.
5. If you have made any changes: npm install and npm compile.
6. Finally: npm start
7. Point your web browser to http://localhost:3000, map an existing legacy Web API through the GUI and click the "Save API" button.
8. Point your HAL-browser to http://localhost:3000/api/ to access the legacy API as if it were a HAL Hypermedia API.