pithyless / api_client

HTTP API Client Builder

ApiClient

ApiClient is an experimental builder for HTTP API clients. The goal is to provide a easy to use engine for constructing queries and map the responses to instances of Hashie::Mash subclasses.

Basically you should be able to build a client for any HTTP based API, without the need for handling connections, parsing responses or instantiating objects. All you need to do is choose where the request should go and enhance your client classes. See the examples dir for usage examples.

Current state is alpha - it works, but the query interface is not final and is subject to change at any time. Hell, even the can even change without prior notice. You were warned.

How API Client works

ApiClient gives you two classes that you can inherit from:

• ApiClient::Base

  This class gives you the most basic access. It is a Hashie::Mash subclass. On the class level, it exposes a variety of request methods (like get, post, put, delete)

• ApiClient::Resource::Base

  This class extends ApiClient::Base giving it ActiveRecord-like class methods (find, find_all, create, update, destroy) as well as instance methods (save, destroy).

Making requests

By design, all request methods are singleton methods. They either return Ruby objects or objects of the class they are called on.

ApiClient::Base.get(path, params = {})

Make a GET request to a specified path. You can pass params as the second argument. It will parse the representation and return a Ruby object.

Example

ApiClient::Base.get('/apples/1.json')
# => returns a parsed Hash

ApiClient::Base.post(path, params = {})

Make a POST request to a specified path. You can pass params as the second argument. It will parse the representation and return a Ruby object.

Example

ApiClient::Base.post('/apples/1.json', :name => 'Lobo')
# => returns a parsed Hash

ApiClient::Base.put(path, params = {})

Make a PUT request to a specified path. You can pass params as the second argument. It will parse the representation and return a Ruby object.

Example

ApiClient::Base.put('/apples/1.json', :name => 'Lobo')
# => returns a parsed Hash

ApiClient::Base.delete(path, params = {})

Make a DELETE request to a specified path. You can pass params as the second argument. It will parse the representation and return a Ruby object.

Example

ApiClient::Base.delete('/apples/1.json')
# => returns a parsed Hash

ApiClient::Base.fetch(path, params = {})

Make a GET request to a specified path. You can pass params as the second argument. It will parse the representation, pass it to the build method and return and object of the class it was called on.

Example

ApiClient::Base.fetch('/apples/1.json')
# => returns a ApiClient::Base object

class Apple < ApiClient::Base
end

Apple.fetch('/apples/1.json')
# => returns an Apple object

Scoping and Chaining

ApiClient allows you to apply scoping to your request using 3 methods:

• ApiClient::Base.params(pars = {})

  This method allows you to add parameters to a request. If the request is a GET request, it will be added in the query. Otherwise, it will be sent in the request body.

  It returns a ApiClient::Scope object attached to a class you started with.

• ApiClient::Base.options(opts = {})

  Allows passing options to the connection object behind the ApiClient. Useful when working with OAuth for passing the token.

  It returns a ApiClient::Scope object attached to a class you started with.

• ApiClient::Base.headers(heads = {})

  Allows setting headers in the request. Useful when you need to add a token as the header

  It returns a ApiClient::Scope object attached to a class you started with.

All of these methods return a ApiClient::Scope object. When you call any request methods on this object (get, post, put, delete), the request will apply the options, params and headers.

Examples

Params, headers and a GET request

ApiClient::Base.
  params({ :page => 1 }).
  headers('Auth-Token', 'mytoken').
  get('/stuff.json') # => returns a parsed Array object

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2011 Marcin Bunsch, See LICENSE for details.