=encoding utf-8 =head1 NAME Spore (Specifications to a POrtable Rest Environment) Description Implementation =head1 ABSTRACT Spore is a specification for describing ReST API that can be parsed and used automatically by client implementations to communicate with the descibed API. This document describes how to write the description for a ReST API in order to be used with a SPORE Client Implementation. =head1 TERMINOLOGY =over 4 =item API An I is a ReST application that can exchange data with client applications over http/https. It presents one or more method endpoints which accept http requests with varying headers, parameters and body content to perform specific operations. =item Client implementation A I is a library targeting a specific system or language. It can use I to create programmatic interfaces usable in applications. =item Description file A I is a file in JSON format describing an I (see specification). It can directly be used by a I to create a programmatic interface in the target system. =back =head1 API DESCRIPTION An API should provide a description file. The description should be in JSON format. XXX all the example should be changes to use valid json fragments instead of yaml. I've noted the obvious cases (lists) but the others also need changing to add double quotes etc. =head2 GENERIC DESCRIPTION This part describes the API itself: =head3 name An optional simple name to describe the specification "name" : "CouchDB" =head3 author An optional list of authors for this specification "author" : [ "franck cuny " ] XXX should be renamed to be plural? =head3 api_base_url An optional base fixed URL for this API "api_base_url" : "http://api.twitter.com/1" Should not including a trailing slash. =head3 api_format An optional list of supported formats "api_format" : [ "json" "xml" ] XXX what does "supported format" actually mean? What's the effect? =head3 version An optional version number for the current description, expressed as a string "version" : "0.1" This is purely for documentation. =head3 authentication An optional boolean to specify if this API requires authentication for all the methods "authentication" : 1 The default is false. =head3 methods A mandatory hash of method names and specifications. See L. "methods" : { ... } The C hash B contain at least one method. =head2 METHOD DESCRIPTION A method must have a name, which is the key in the L hash "methods" : { "public_timeline" : { ... } } =head3 method The mandatory C attribute specifies the HTTP method to use for this call "method" : "GET" =head3 path The mandatory C attribute specifies the URI path for this method. "path" : "/login" The path can contain I. A placeholder B begin with a <:>: "path" : "/statuses/public_timeline.:format" XXX How can non-placeholder :foo's be included in the path? ie is there an escape mechanism? XXX What happens in this example if 'format' isn't listed in params/required? XXX What happens if a parameter needs to be followed by a word character? ie can something like :{format}foo be used? =head3 params An optional list of I parameters (contrast with L). This list will be used to replace value in placeholders, and if not used in the path, will be added to the query. "params" : [ "trim_user", "include_entities" ] =head3 required An optional list of I parameters (contrast with L). This list will be used to replace value in placeholders, and if not used in the path, will be added to the query. Parameters that are required B be repeated in the B field "required" : [ "format" ] =head3 expected An optional list of valid HTTP response status values for this method "expected" : [ 200, 204 ] An exception will be thrown if C is specified and some other status value is returned. Otherwise an exception won't be thrown, even for error status values. XXX a global api_expected would be handy. XXX a global way to express "throw exception for all 4xx and 5xx (unless expected)" would be good. =head3 description An optional simple description for the method. This should not be considered as documentation. "description" : "Returns the 20 most recent statuses, including retweets if they exist, from non-protected users" =head3 authentication An optional boolean to specify if this method requires authentication "authentication" : 0 The default is false. =head3 base_url An optional base url for this method, if different to L "base_url" : "http://api.twitter.com/1" Should not include a trailing slash. XXX would be nice to be able to express this as a relative url (relative to api_base_url) That could be handled at build time. =head3 format An optional list of supported formats for this method, if different to L: "format" : [ "json", "xml" ] =head3 documentation Optional complete documentation text for the method "documentation" : "The public timeline is cached for 60 seconds. Requesting more frequently than that will not return any more data, and will count against your rate limit usage." =head2 SAMPLE A description for the twitter API (only the API description part and the first method): { "api_base_url" : "http://api.twitter.com/1", "version" : "0.1", "methods" : { "public_timeline" : { "params" : [ "trim_user", "include_entities" ], "required" : [ "format" ], "path" : "/statuses/public_timeline.:format", "method" : "GET" }, } } =head2 CALLS XXX =head1 CHANGELOGS =head2 0.1 - 2010.10.xx Initial version. =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Some parts of this specification are adopted from the following specifications. =over 4 =item * PSGI Specification L =item * PEP333 Python Web Server Gateway Interface L =item * Rack L =item * JSGI Specification L =back I'd like to thank authors of these great documents. =head1 AUTHOR =over 4 =item franck cuny =item nils grunwald =back =head1 CONTRIBUTORS =over 4 =item damien "bl0b" leroux =item Tim Bunce =back =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Copyright XXX, 2010. This document is licensed under the Creative Commons license by-sa. =cut