api-provider-with-ftp

API Provider with FTP

Introduction

In this scenario we start with an OpenAPI/Swagger file ftp-api.json. We will demonstrate how to create a REST API that can invoke your integration flows. Note that at the moment the example integrations use the FTP connector only. You can add other Connections to the flows if you want to.

Prerequisite

For this quickstart you will need access to an FTP server. If you don't have one you can download one from the Apache Mina project. For this demo I used the 1.1.1 Release. After extracting it you can start it from top level directory using

./bin/ftpd.sh res/conf/ftpd-typical.xml 

This will start the server with default user/pw of admin/admin. Next create an new directory res/home/inbox

mkdir res/home/inbox

In Syndesis you can now create an FTP connection, using the FTP connector [Connections > Create Connection] and select FTP. As shown in Figure 1, fill out the first 4 fields: hostname or IP address of your FTP server, username (admin), password (admin) and port (2121).

Figure 1. Create FTP Connection

Link to a screencast of this quickstart on our youtube channel:

<<Click to Play>>

Screencast of this Quickstart

Link to a screencast of this quickstart on our youtube channel:

<<Click to Play>>

Getting Started

You can start by using the API Provider connector and selecting the ftp-api.json to implement your own flows, or you can start using the export. Here we describe using the export so you can get a feel for how things work quickly. If you want to set up your own flows you can follow the video tutorial from above. In the Syndesis UI navigate to Integrations and click on the Import button in the right top corner. Now you can select the TaskAPI-export.zip file and start the import. On a succesful deployment, go to edit this integration. You will see that this integration contains four flows:

Flow	Path	FTP Action (Directory: inbox)
Create File	POST /api	UploadNamedFile - If file exists: fail
Get File by FileName	GET /api/{id}	DownloadNamedFile - Delete file after download: no
Update File by FileName	PUT /api/{id}	UploadNamedFile - If file exists: override
Delete File by Filename	DELETE /api/{id}	DownloadNamedFile - Delete file after download: yes

Figure 2. Endpoints in the File API

We've implemented each flow using just one connection: the SampleDB Connection. We could have used any other connection this is nice and simple, so it does the job demonstrating what the API Provider is all about.

Figure 3. 'Get' Flow Implementation

Besides the SampleDB we use the DataMapper and don't forget to click on the final Provided API Return Path step to map Error to HTTP Return codes (which are defined in the Swagger API).

Figure 4. Return Error Mapping

Navigate back to the Integration Detail screen and click to Start (or Deploy) this integration. The deploy process will take a few minutes, but at the tail end of it it will show the URL at which it is live, the external URL which should be something like

https://i-ftp-syndesis.192.168.42.71.nip.io

That's it, your integration is now live! Let's create an environmental parameter with the external URL using

export externalURL="https://i-ftp-syndesis.192.168.42.71.nip.io"

Make sure to use the externalURL for your integration. Now we are ready to play with the Task API:

1. Create File "/"

curl -k --header "Content-Type: application/json" --request POST \
        --data '{"name":"1.json", "content":"my first file :)!"}' $externalURL
        
curl -k --header "Content-Type: application/json" --request POST \
        --data '{"name":"2.json", "content":"my second file :|!"}' $externalURL
        
curl -k --header "Content-Type: application/json" --request POST \
        --data '{"name":"3.json", "content":"my third file :(!"}' $externalURL

2. Get File by Filename "/{name}"

curl -k $externalURL/1.json

{"name":"1.json", "content":"my first file :)!"}

3. Update File by Filename "/{name}"

curl -k -X PUT --header "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"name":"1.json", "content":"my first file has more content now!"}' $externalURL/1.json

{"name":"1.json", "content":"my first file has more content now!"}

4. Delete File by Filename "/{name}"

curl -k -X DELETE $externalURL/1.json

What did we learn?

• We learned to generate a Rest service from a OpenAPI/Swagger document
• We learned to implement each flow using Syndesis Connectors and Steps
• We learned to map Exceptions to HTTP return codes