API Development

In a typical business scenario, API development is a responsibility which is distinct from API publication and management. API development is usually done by someone who understands the technical aspects of the API, interfaces, documentation, versions etc. while API management is typically carried out by individuals who understand the business aspects of the APIs. Therefore, in most business scenarios, an API developer is distinct from an API publisher and a manager.

API creation, deletion, documentation, versioning and other operations related to API development can be done using the WSO2 API Publisher, which is a Web application with a structured GUI designed for API creators, publishers and managers. It allows API publishers to create, publish, scale, document, version and gather statistics on API features, quality and usage while also facilitating more API management-related tasks such as monetization for a unique business model and promoting and encouraging potential consumers and partners to adopt the API in their solutions.

Shown in the diagram below are common life cycle activities of an API developer, supported by the WSO2 API Publisher:

To access the API development-related functionality provided by the WSO2 API Publisher, you need to create user roles with specific levels of permission. In this guide, we use a role by the name "creator", using which the API Publisher Web interface can be accessed for more development-related tasks. For instructions on creating the "creator" role and assigning it to users, refer to section Users and Roles in API Manager.

Before accessing the Web interface of the API Publisher, make sure you run the API Manager using instructions given in section Running the API Manager. Once the Carbon server is up and running, the API Publisher can be accessed by typing the following URL in your browser.

https://<YourHostName>:9443/publisher

The API Publisher log-in page opens as follows:

To log in to the API Manager, you need to create a user and assign it specific permissions as described in section User Management. Alternatively, you can also log in to the API publisher as an administrator, by using the admin user that is available by default with the password also as admin. The default admin user has administrator privileges and can perform any operation.

Once you are successfully logged in to the API Publisher using the "creator" role, refer to the following information to start developing APIs, documentation etc.