Importantly HTTP-based Rest APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) serve as a digital glue bond that allows client applications to be integrated together. APIs address connectivity issues by allowing client and server connections. As a result, organizations are able to connect the dots in multi-channel enterprise architecture and create a well-connected ecosystem.

Problems Rest APIs Effectively Address

Several businesses use cloud-based systems to manage their enterprise assets, such as Hubspot, Sage CRM, and others. Business metrics, which were previously stored in in-house databases and various file formats, are now protected by third-party applications and web interfaces.

APIs enable business users to make data-driven decisions by providing this information. They make information access easier by defining the interaction protocol for software components. Third-party integration platforms also use APIs to retrieve data. They can be linked to other systems in order to process business queries or consolidate dashboards.

According to a Rapid API data survey, the consumption of API-based integration software is increasing, with 65.4% of survey respondents expecting to use more API integration solutions in 2020. Companies are aggressively investing in exposing their services and assets via API management, and businesses require a streamlined method for retrieving data and unlocking the information trapped in APIs.

The Rest API Browser in the Applet.io platform enterprise enables this by simplifying Rest API consumption and allowing on-premise enterprise systems to securely connect with external applications.

Use platform built-in Rest Client Connector to connect to external applications.

Rest API Integration Browser – A Code-Free API Consumption

Applet.io platform 8 includes an easy-to-use Rest API Browser that allows you to connect to popular business applications using single-step authentication to make HTTP calls. It decouples data from its point of origin, allowing it to be consumed and independent of the s platform ce system.

To use an API, the user must perform a one-time setup for the API connection in the Import API screen. The Rest API Browser then populates all HTTP requests (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, and PATCH) available in that API. Users can use the Browser to access and integrate these calls into their dataflows by dragging and dropping the object.

The Rest API Browser in the platform can be accessed in two ways:

1. In the context of the integration project (requires creating a new project or opening an existing one)

2. Outside of the integration project's scope (requires creating a shared Rest API connection)

The Rest API Browser generates the developer-accessible features of an OAS-compliant API, which is one of its key advantages. This means that importing an API will populate the API endpoint and res platform ce information in the Browser automatically. This visual documentation streamlines backend consumption while saving development time.

Users can import public and private APIs into their dataflows using the Rest API Integration Browser

• Open APIs built on top of public services and information are referred to as public APIs. Using API keys and security tokens, third-party tools and external partners can access and modify them. Marketers, for example, can use population data from the United States Census Bureau and combine it with marketing data to identify the regions where their product is most popular. This API integration improves data accessibility.

• Private APIs enclose a company's backend data and applications in an interface that can be used or shared with partners. Private APIs are used by businesses to improve access and process automation internally. These APIs give organizations more control over their information assets by allowing them to customize access. Amazon, for example, requires its employees to share data via APIs in order to foster collaboration and enable faster integration.

Importing public and private APIs necessitates the use of JSON/YML files or URLs. APIs that do not adhere to the Open API protocol can be imported by providing the base URL and API name.

Let's use an example to demonstrate the API integration software's functionality:

An online pet store would like to segment its inventory based on the availability of pets for sale. To access inventory data in the platform's integration project, the store uses the private API of the inventory system via the Rest API Browser. Based on the availability status, the data is standardized and sorted into two separate database tables:

Data about available pets are sent to the marketing team, who uses it to create new campaigns and track their progress.

The list of sold pets is routed to a separate database table, where it is further integrated with sales data and delivered to the finance team for revenue calculation.

This dataflow is executed once per month. When a pet's status on the website changes from 'available' to sell, the database is updated as well.

Follow this step-by-step guide on the platform documentation platform to configure the Rest API integration connection in the Applet.io platform.

• The first step in API integration is to import the API; once done, the platform automatically creates two files in the project: A.capi, which contains all of the HTTP calls present in that API and is visible in the Browser; and A.Sact, which contains the Base URI and authentication protocols.

The store will use the GET request to retrieve data from the website in this case. Drag and drop the Find Pets by Status object from the Browser onto the dataflow designer to accomplish this.

When the nodes are expanded, the output layout of the accessed res platform ce is displayed. The Response Info section displays the status codes returned in response to a request. The JSON Body, on the other hand, displays information about the data.

After retrieving the website data, it is cleaned using the Data Cleanse transformation and saved in separate SQL tables based on their availability status using the Route transformation.

Insert and Update options are enabled for the database tables. As a result, only updated records are propagated to the database tables after the first run.

The user must drag and drop Rest API Connection and API Client objects from the toolbox to perform the same process outside the scope of the project. For data consumption, the API Connection must be configured with a base URL and authentication details.

platform enterprise currently supports f platform authentication protocols for Rest APIs:

• OAuth 2: To access APIs using the OAuth 2 protocol, the user must request an access token in addition to the client ID, username, and password.

• API Key: The res platform ce owner generates an API key for the client Rest application to use for data integration via API.

• APIs that support basic authentication require only a username and password. When the request is processed at runtime, the API key is automatically passed to the endpoint header or query.

• Bearer Token: A JSON Web Token (JWT) is associated with the client Rest application by the res platform ce owner. When the API-based integration is accessed, the JWT is passed along to all service calls. A username, password, and token URL are required to access APIs using bearer tokens.

The Rest API Browser made it easier for the pet store to retrieve and clean website data in order to optimize their business processes - all while requiring no coding.

This use case demonstrated how to process a GET request in a data flow. Go through platform documentation to learn more about making API requests like POST, PUT, and DELETE using the Rest API Browser.

Investigating the Rest API Integration Browser's Business Side

API evolution has created exciting opportunities for businesses. Here's how you can use this feature and APIs to improve operational efficiency:

Rest API Integrations Can Be Automated

With its simple one-step configuration, the Rest API Browser eliminates the need to create third-party integrations from scratch. The feature can be combined with the Applet.io platform's workflow automation to enable integration repeatability, reducing downtime and manual efforts in process execution, and speeding up project delivery.

A logistics company, for example, wishes to automate the customer onboarding process. To input customer data, such as shipping details and product information, they use a web-based portal. When a client registers on the web-based portal, the Rest API Browser retrieves their data via the HTTP GET method, standardizes and validates it, and saves it to the company database.

When a new buyer orders through the portal, the information is automatically and in near real-time propagated to the database, and the workflow is looped. This API integration simplifies data analysis and speeds up the process, saving time.

Reduce time-to-market by easily accessing data.

By simplifying communication with internal and external apps and systems in the y platform enterprise stack, Rest API Browser allows you to get more value out of the y platform's existing business assets. It completes a circuit that fosters a ready-to-scale digital business.

Consider a software consulting firm that stores its enterprise data in multiple master databases. The firm intends to consolidate these disparate data points in order to unify this data and improve accessibility throughout the organization.

NetSuite is used for product data, and Salesforce is used for customer data. Furthermore, these endpoints must communicate with Marketo, which contains lead data. All of these endpoints must be linked by connecting a sales lead in Marketo, an opportunity in Salesforce, and a product in NetSuite.

They were able to unify all of this data by consuming NetSuite and Marketo API endpoints via the API Browser and enterprise System Synchronization

An Enterprise System Synchronization

Consistency across multiple endpoints is ensured by synchronizing constantly changing data with other enterprise systems. The Rest API Browser aids in the management of information flow from one system to another while maintaining data quality.

For example, a provider of business management software may want to use this feature to optimize its ticket management system. They use Rest APIs to connect to Zendesk and JIRA. The flow retrieves defect tickets from Zendesk using the GET method and updates bug tracking in JIRA using the POST method.

The integration of these systems improves communication between the development and support teams.

Experiment with the platform enterprise API Integration Feature

Reporting in A-Real-Time

Up-to-date daily operations information can lead to data-driven decisions rather than experience-based decisions. Real-time reporting is especially useful for businesses with a lot of moving parts, such as a complicated manufacturing process or a long marketing and sales cycle.

For example, an e-commerce company may obtain raw lead data from Hubspot, a marketing automation app. This information is supplemented with Google Analytics data and segmented by demographics, geographic area, company name, and company website. This data is then cleansed by referencing it against Salesforce data before being routed to a visualization platform, PowerBI, for real-time reporting.

This allows the e-commerce provider to keep track of their leads in real-time and optimize the experience for non-converting leads.

As a result, the Rest API Browser can assist you in connecting lines of business, partners, and customers to any internal or external system and making their data accessible across disparate organizations.

Want to learn more about how platform enterprise API integration features can help y platform company's data accessibility? Download the trial version of the Applet.io platform to try out this feature for y platform self!