How APIs work with the Website
An API is an application programming interface that provides an interface between applications.
For example, if you take login as an example
By clicking the Login button in any web application, it will communicate with the backend APIs and the API will validate the user by checking our database to see if it exists in the database or not, in which case it will generate the response code we configured.
Or
After logging in, if you want to keep any data in your account, the API validates your credentials and keeps the data inside the database.
Do you know how two applications share data with each other
\=> One of the most effective ways to solve the problem is by using APIs.
How to execute CRUD operations from the database?
\=> Here APIs again.
What is CRUD?
CRUD refers to the four basic operations a software application should be able to perform – Create, Read, Update, and Delete.
| CRUD OPERATION | HTTP REQUEST METHOD |
| Create | POST |
| Read | GET |
| Update | PUT or PATCH |
| Delete | DELETE |
We can create or design our own APIs according to our needs by sending requests and responses.
Here are a few HTTP response status codes that we use in our APIS as per our requirements.
Informational responses (100 – 199)
Successful responses (200 – 299)
Redirection messages (300 – 399)
Client error responses (400 – 499)
Server error responses (500 – 599)
Main types of Web APIs
There are four main types of APIs:
Open APIs: Also known as Public API, there are no restrictions to access these types of APIs because they are publicly available.
Partner APIs: A developer needs specific rights or licenses in order to access this type of API because they are not available to the public.
Internal APIs: Also known as Private APIs, only internal systems expose this type of API. These are usually designed for internal use within a company. The company uses this type of API among the different internal teams to be able to improve its products and services.
Composite APIs: This type of API combines different data and service APIs. It is a sequence of tasks that run synchronously as a result of the execution, and not at the request of a task. Its main uses are to speed up the process of execution and improve the performance of the listeners in the web interfaces