Converting SOAP APIs to REST APIs in Minutes with DreamFactory
Handwriting code for database APIs can be a time consuming and expensive process that often exposes organizations to a variety of risks relating to quality, consistency, and developer effort. DreamFactory specializes in REST API generation for a range of databases that gives you the ability to generate a secure, fully documented API in minutes. This article will highlight how easy it is to create an REST API from a SOAP API, demonstrating how you could save your organization considerable time, money and effort during the API development process.
Generating the REST API
To commence generating your REST API, you’ll login to the DreamFactory administration interface, navigate to API Generation & Connections and then enter the service creation interface by clicking on the Network dropdown button under the API Types submenu. Then, press the + button to start building your API!
From there you’ll select the SOAP service type from the Network dropdown.
Step 1: Select your database
Here you will be prompted to provide a name, label, and description. The latter two are used just for reference purposes within the administration interface, however the name value is particularly important because as you’ll soon see it will comprise part of the API URL.
Then, you’ll be prompted to provide the database connection credentials after pressing ‘next.’. This should really be nothing new; you’ll supply a host name, username, password, and database. Additionally, you can optionally specify other configuration characteristics such as driver options, the time zone, and caching preferences.
Step 2: Provide a name, label, and description for your database
With the credentials in place, just press the Save button at the bottom of the screen, and believe it or not the REST API has been generated!
Instant API Documentation
DreamFactory provides robust API documentation capabilities, automatically generating comprehensive, interactive API docs for every generated API. These docs are available through a web-based interface, allowing developers to explore endpoints, view parameter details, and test API calls directly within the documentation. This feature ensures that APIs are easy to understand, use, and integrate, significantly reducing development time and enhancing collaboration across teams. The documentation is continuously updated to reflect any changes in the API, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
Step 4: Interact with your auto-generated API Documentation to find the curl command & request URL
Security & Integration with other Services
As with all DreamFactory REST APIs you will have to secure your now converted SOAP API with minimum role-based access controls before it can be made public. You can also add headers, add service definitions, and script some powerful automated workflows with the DreamFactory scripting engine.
In a few short minutes, you can have your SOAP APIs ready to integrate alongside any number of other Enterprise applications, data sources, or network APIs. DreamFactory also allows you to create, mount, and manage any number of third-party REST APIs with ease under a unified admin dashboard.
About DreamFactory
Want to know more about how we can help you create, secure and deploy your converted SOAP APIs? DreamFactory is an API generation platform that can help your business secure data and get information into the hands of those that need it the most.
Read the detail article about SOAP to REST: https://blog.dreamfactory.com/how-to-turn-any-soap-web-service-into-a-rest-api
