My latest mobile project relies heavily on an API, so a lot of development time was spent defining, implementing and testing the API. During the process I used two tools mainly, and they were very helpful. Below you’ll find them in case you are in a similar position.
This neat little tool helps you build your API. You start by designing the API, and at any step and you can save and publish it, and tool will create a live test version you or your customers can use.
You can let other users collaborate on the API design, the API documentation is automatically generated for you, you can sync with your Github account, and it will also help you with debugging and testing. Not bad huh?
The tool is free if you are a single user, and for teams it starts at $99 per month. Definitely worth it in my opinion if your work involves building APIs regularly.
Once you roll out the API on your server, it will be time to test it. In my case the mobile app is the one communicating with the API. The problem is that whenever I need to verify what was going on I need to create new tests and log points on my Android app, and re-build the whole app, which started to bother me a bit.
The solution was Hurl.it. You can quickly simulate an HTTP call using any method you want, and you can specify the headers and parameters as needed. Quick and simple.
What other tools do you use when working with APIs?