New Release: SRP HTTP Framework 4.0.6

API

Wow…it’s been almost three years to the date since we announced the general availability of the SRP HTTP Framework. Don’t let the time gap fool you. This product has continued to go through ongoing updates and enhancements with new versions coming out on average every 4 months. Our only excuse for not posting additional notices to our blog site is that we’ve remained very busy building and supporting RESTful API solutions for our clients. It has been quite satisfying to see the diverse ways that we have been able to integrate OpenInsight’s flexible data engine, robust business rules language, and universally recognized and respected REST APIs.

We are already working on a road-map for version 4.1 with several very cool features. Hopefully we can preview this as we begin work on them. Therefore, before we begin working on 4.1 in earnest, we thought that we had better announce the most recent version and highlight a few of the most notable features.

Advanced Resource Management and API Building

Before version 4.0 of the SRP HTTP Framework, all resources and web services were completely rolled out by hand. Developers would create their web services using provided templates (or copies of existing web services). Each web service was responsible for calling other web services (similar to MFS chaining). This worked rather well, but long term maintenance for sufficiently large applications increasingly became a chore. Furthermore, there was no visual way to see all of the resources within an application and their relationships to each other. This was resolved with the introduction of the Resource Manager, a new option in the HTTP Framework Setup form:

Now all resources are managed through this hierarchical UI. Supported HTTP methods and query params can also be easily added (or removed) with a few clicks. When finished, developers only need to click on the Create APIs button. Shazam! New APIs are automatically created or updated as needed.

Built-In Authentication

The SRP HTTP Framework has always supported authentication. However, it shipped with the assumption that developers would hook this into the full SRP FrameWorks user security database or retrofit it into another pre-existing system. This made it difficult to install the framework and begin prototyping secure APIs “out of the box”. To resolve this, in 4.0 we began shipping with the product a WEB_ACCOUNTS table along with a supporting UI, services, and an updated authentication module. The services were made to be more granular. This makes it easier to integrate them with existing systems:

We also added containment protection when authentication fails too many times. Developers can opt to quarantine the offending account or disable the entire server.

Log Management

Generating logs is a must for a tool like the SRP HTTP Framework, which is why this has been a feature since version 1.0. In version 3.1, we updated the format of the logs to be much more informative. Unfortunately, as applications scale up and API activity increases, the ability to manage the ever growing number of logs (especially manually) became tedious. In version 4.0.4 we began shipping a new HTTP Logs management UI:

This utility is lightning quick in loading a summary of all logs. The most critical data can be searched and filtered based on date and time. Logs can also be archived to keep everything well managed. If a specific log needs to be analyzed, users only need to click the View… link and it will be brought right up.

So Much More

There are too many additional quality of life enhancements to list here. Therefore, we highly recommend you visit our What’s New page where every major change to every version of the SRP HTTP Product can be previewed. If you are more interested in the a change log reference, we also have a Version History page that will suit your needs. While visiting any of these two links, we also recommend spending some time in our newly created Questions and Answers page. This is like an FAQ…other than these are the questions we think you’ll have but you just don’t know it yet. 😉

If you have any questions or if you would like a demo of the latest release then please send an email to support@srpcs.com or drop a note in the SRP discussion forum.

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