With the rapid growth of information technology, there are also application interfaces in various information systems （ API ）,API As a channel for data transmission within the information system and between different information systems , Its quantity increases exponentially with the increasing size of software systems , How to manage these API Has become more and more important in the industry , Need to put API The agility of development 、 Speed and efficiency have been raised to a new level .
API management
Many people think that ,API The management of is nothing more than to API Information management , As long as API Recorded in the Word or Wiki Documentation is enough , This is actually an assumption . According to practical experience , These documents over time , Lack of maintenance , And gradually become the certificate of the original work , And the actual operation API Quite different , Has lost its act API The meaning of the document .
In the current successful API In management practice ,API Management should at least include the following ：
１）API Document information management
２）API Test quality management
３）API R & D process management
４）API Automatic test management
Only at least the above four points have been achieved , Can be called effective API management ,API To serve the enterprise more effectively , hold API To a new level of development .
API Management status
Most of the existing application systems adopt the front and back separation end architecture or micro service architecture , There are at least hundreds of systems of general scale API, For large systems , Contains thousands of API It's normal , And in the system API Not only in large numbers , And different kinds , Distributed in different places . at present API The management mainly has the following difficulties ：
1）API Information management is difficult
Because the system has numerous and complicated API, It cannot be updated in time due to omissions in the R & D process API Information happens from time to time , In the end, it will lead to API Information is missing . about API For developers and users ,API Document information gradually loses reference value ; For project managers ,API Information cannot be correlated with the test 、 Project iteration progress, etc , Unable to understand the actual R & D of the project 、 Testing and operation .
2）API R & D collaboration is difficult
stay API When the management platform is not unified , Each project team has its own usage habits or problems left over by history , The platform is not unified, which makes it impossible to maintain and collaborate . And because of API Documents are not updated and relevant personnel are not notified in time when changes are made , Lead to project inspection 、 Post test 、 High communication cost in the process of front-end and back-end docking , Delay the progress of the project .
3）API It's difficult to test
The tester needs to look at the interface document and then use another tool to test , In addition, the interface has changed , Need to rewrite the test case , Increased workload and reduced efficiency . Testing is always at the end of the line , Unable to participate in project discussions , Unable to quickly and widely regression test , I can't even finish the test on time , Lead to project delay or uneasy launch .
4）API Automated testing is difficult
Testers need to learn programming languages to write test scripts , But the test script was not updated in time 、 The coding style is not perfect 、 Inconvenient collaboration and other reasons lead to high cost , The test report is not clear enough .
5）API Test management is difficult
The test team and project management personnel cannot accurately understand the test results , The current project quality cannot be quantified by data . Project managers lack a platform to show team development progress , Such as the completion of demand , Pass the test 、 Docking and release information .
Eolink The solution
Eolink Put forward suggestions for API Develop innovative ideas for collaboration —— Document and Test Driven Development （DTDD）, What is documentation and test driven development ？ In short ：
1） Replace oral conventions and note taking documents with standard documents , Let's develop 、 test 、 Operation and maintenance 、 Collaboration has a track ;
2） Quickly use test results to drive development progress , Let the team communicate more fully 、 Management is based on facts , Achieve agile development .
According to this idea ,Eolink Provide a set of advanced solutions , The goal is to reduce the risk of API Inefficient management 、 The test is not clear 、 Management difficulties and other problems , Through agile API R & D management solutions and concepts to promote the rapid development of enterprise business . As shown below Eolink Solution diagram ：
Eolink Actual combat
1. API information management
comprehensive API Management information module , By hand Or generated automatically API Information , Comprehensive record and display API Information .
1） Design API： Can be detailed 、 Record... In a standardized manner API All the information about , It can be used to design 、 Unified API Development specifications for （ As shown in the figure below ）. In addition to manual creation API Outside , You can also import already designed interfaces from other tools or systems , Such as Postman、Swagger、Jmeter、Apifox、YApi etc. .
2） management API：API The creator will be recorded in the information 、 person in charge 、 Finally, modify the time and other information , And it can be API Definition Tags, Yes API To classify , Can better treat API Conduct management , As shown in the figure below ：
besides , You can also bind Github、Gitlab、 Code cloud and other code warehouses , It can be generated automatically with one click API file , Also compatible Swagger Code annotation generation API file .
2.API Test management
One click test , With a special test editor, you can directly write JSON、XML data , It can also support automatic test data generation , Can pass Javascript Code pair request parameters 、 Put back the results for secondary processing , Testing for complex scenarios .
The system will record the history of each request , You can see the detailed test time 、 Request and return information, etc , This ensures that the test results are traceable .
3.API automated testing
Eolink Implemented zero code implementation API automated testing , It enables testers to complete automated testing through the interface , And it provides Javascript Script mode , You can write complex through very simple scripts API The test case , Realize complex process jump in automated testing 、 Data encryption and decryption 、 For the purpose of signature verification .
4.API R & D management
By connecting the various R & D cycles of the product system , Products can be realized 、 Development 、 test 、 Comprehensive cooperation of operation and maintenance and other links and personnel . adopt Mock API It can realize the simultaneous development of front end and back end , adopt API State Statistics , You can quickly learn about the current project API The state distribution of ; besides , You can also plan iterations and track development progress , take API Bind to iteration plan , It can help the team to make the development progress accurate to API In units of , Achieve more accurate progress tracking .
besides , You can also API Set to published 、 In design 、 To be determined 、 Development 、 docking 、 test 、 complete 、 abnormal 、 Maintenance issue 、 Abandoned, etc , The state change operation can be set according to each state , As if API When it changes to the test state, the tester , Of course , When the state changes or the interface itself changes , You can also manually select the person to be notified . As shown in the figure below , When updating interface status , Not only do you need to update the relevant change information , You can also choose whether to trigger a change notification .
summary
The above presentation is just Eolink Powerful API A very small part of the management function , except API Outside management ,Eolink It also provides automated testing services 、API gateway 、API monitor 、API Automatic generation and other services .Eolink It's domestic API Leader in management solutions , It's the largest online in China API Manage service providers , Services include Taikang online 、 Bank of Suzhou 、 Pacific Securities 、 Sunshine Insurance Group 、 Unicom payment and many other institutions .
Through to Eolink The trial , I deeply believe that it is well crafted API Management sword , If you are in need or interested , It can provide SaaS Free to use on version ！
The interface management tool used in the figure is eolink, If you are interested, you can use it by yourself ：www.eolink.com
