Web services
April 25th, 2018
What makes a REST API mobile-friendly?
REST API design is dependent on the clients that will be consuming the resources – APIs that are designed for server-based integrations tend to look quite different from those that are designed to support mobile applications.
March 20th, 2018
GraphQL will not solve your API design problems
If you find REST APIs difficult to design, develop and scale, then your experience with GraphQL is not going to be any easier.
August 14th, 2017
Swagger is not WSDL for REST. It’s much less useful than that…
Swagger enables the same kind of automated discovery and integration that WSDL was invented to support. In doing so it undermines the design of REST APIs and doesn’t even provide adequate documentation.
June 4th, 2017
Can consumer-driven contracts manage breaking change in microservice integrations?
One of the more enduring problems with service integration is managing change in service interfaces. Consumer-driven contracts can help to detect breaking changes, but this visibility comes at a price.
November 28th, 2016
Generic controllers in ASP.Net Core
ASP.Net core ignores generic controllers by default, so you have to add support for them yourself at start up.
July 12th, 2016
Simplifying .Net REST API development: Nancy, self-hosting and ASP.Net Core
REST API development using ASP.Net WebAPI is so fussy compared to other ecosystems such as Node.js and Ruby. New frameworks are emerging that promise to simplify both development and hosting of APIs in the .Net world.
October 15th, 2015
Using the REST API connector as a data source in Informatica Cloud
It can be pretty straightforward to read REST API resources using Informatica Cloud – so long as you know which levers to pull and your data is in a sympathetic format.
September 27th, 2015
REST APIs don’t need a versioning strategy – they need a change strategy
Change in an API is inevitable. Attempting to manage this change through version numbering usually creates more problems than it solves.
November 22nd, 2014
The RESTafarian flame wars – common disagreements over REST API design
Debates on the finer points of REST can bring out the worst in people as they seek to define what is and is not “RESTful”. In most cases the debate is unlikely to make the difference between success and failure for an API.
August 21st, 2014
Messaging shouldn’t be used for queries
When developers first start using messaging they can be tempted to use it as a brand new hammer for every nail. Messaging brings a lot to the party, but it isn’t necessarily a suitable transport for fast, synchronous query processing.
July 22nd, 2014
Using a tolerant reader for web service integrations in .Net
Using version tolerant readers can help you to cope with changes to service contracts though this does come at the expense of a weaker contract. The approach is more appropriate for fluid services that are prone to frequent change.
April 21st, 2014
Hackable URIs may look nice, but they don’t have much to do with REST and HATEOAS
Structured and “Hackable” URIs are a staple part of SEO-friendly websites. Although developers generically expect to see them in HTTP-based APIs, they should be irrelevant to consumers of a fully RESTful API that leverages HATEOAS.
February 6th, 2014
Comparing Web API 2 and WCF for building services on HTTP and REST
On the face of it, Microsoft took WCF’s promise of “one implementation, any protocol” and shot it in the head with ASP.NET Web API. Now that the Web API has matured a little it is easier to see them as complimentary technologies that deliver very different types of service.
October 19th, 2013
Can APX help in developing usable and accessible APIs?
Given how important APIs have become in driving the reach of applications and services, it’s surprising how little investment is made in the usability of APIs as opposed to UIs. Perhaps the principals and techniques used by UX should be applied to developing more effective APIs…
June 17th, 2013
Netflix has abandoned OData – does the standard have a future without an ecosystem?
Netflix have closed their OData catalogue and EBay seem to have quietly put their implementation out to grass. With a shrinking ecosystem and no marquee services, does Microsoft’s data standard have a future?
June 4th, 2013
Sharing APIs in an organisation: challenges and pitfalls
Sharing services and APIs can appeal to a desire to reduce duplication and improve development efficiency. It’s a worthy ambition though the journey there can be littered with costly traps for the unwary.
December 17th, 2012
REST services may not have standards, but they should follow conventions
REST is more of an architectural style than a set of standards. That said, a service should follow certain conventions if it is to be predictable and simple to work with.
September 21st, 2012
Contract-first web service development using WCF and .Net 4.5
Contract first service development in .Net has always been hampered by the limited availability of any appropriate tooling. The new Contract-First tool in Visual Studio 2012 is only a partial solution.