Overview

To open the API Designer, open the Profound.js IDE and click New > API File to add a new API, or edit an existing file with the extension .api.json.

While you are editing or adding an API File, the following API Designer will be presented:

Open

Table of Contents

• 1 1. Files Tree Tab
• 2 2. API Routes
• 3 3. API Information
  • 3.1 General Info
  • 3.2 Permissions
  • 3.3 Test
  • 3.4 Stats
• 4 4. API Logic
• 5 5. Input Parameters and Output Parameters
• 6 6. API Options
• 7 Related Pages

This API Designer has several sections, described below.

In this example, you will see that an API file (a filename that ends with .api.json) was opened.

This is a list of APIs stored within this file. Here is where you will select, add, update, copy, and remove APIs.

This is where you will provide information about the selected API.

Names the route and sets its HTTP method and path, its category and tags, its documentation, its CORS settings, and whether it is deprecated or disabled. Every field on this tab is described in API - General Info tab.

• Default Access - Set the default access to Allow or Deny. The default is Allow.

• User Roles - Assign the User Roles that must override this Default Access.

• You can test your API, seeing all of the parameters along with your API result.

• You can view usage information about this API, such as:

  • Number of requests;

  • Average response time;

  • Average payload size;

  • And much more.

Use Low-Code steps and plugins to program the selected API routine.

This is where you will define inputs and outputs for the selected API, as well as order and document them. All parameters are validated before any of the API logic runs, so a missing required parameter or a value that cannot be converted to its declared data type is rejected before your logic is called.

Parameter locations, the full list of data types, nested and array parameters, path parameters, and per-HTTP-status output parameters are all described in Parameters.

This is where you can access other API tools from the IDE.

Open

• OpenAPI Configuration - This will open the openapi.json file, where you can set up:

  • Your public API information, such as title, contact info, version, and license → info-object;

  • API Security configuration → security-scheme-object.

• API Explorer - This will open a new browser tab where you can explore all of the enabled APIs.

• API Dashboard - This will open a new browser tab where you can see more statistics about the server and all of the enabled APIs.

• User Authentication - Provides access to the options below. This option is named User Authorization once a Security Store has been configured.

  • API Users - Maintains the administrator API users;

  • Dashboard Users - Maintains the administrator credentials used for API Dashboard access.

• Security Store Configuration - Used to enable Role Based API Authentication and Authorization.

• Statistics Store Configuration - Used to enable API Dashboard request/response data to be persisted to a database.

  • When using an IBM i database, the table name is PJSAPIREQS.

  • When using another database, the table name is pjs_api_requests.

• Find API File - If you do not know the API filename, then this is a great way to find an API.