A Case Study of API Management Using Aspects in a Brazilian Organization
Abstract
With innovation-based competition gaining greater importance in recent years, a central issue for researchers is how Information Technology (IT) can help companies strengthen their innovative capability. Within this context, APIs are a very important part of modern software businesses since they allow different companies to interact offering more innovative products. This means that a company needs to be able to document and manage its API, i.e., to monitor its clients’ usage, identify important clients, etc. This work describes Sharingan, a management module for RESTful API documentation and management implemented using Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP). Sharingan monitors HTTP requests directed to the API, as well as their responses to clients, and extracts and persists information composed in these requests’ bodies. This information is used to create an analytics dashboard that allows users to understand and make decisions about the managed API. The management module was evaluated in a case study and due to its results, it has been applied to other APIs within a Brazilian government organization.
A Case Study of API Management Using Aspects in a Brazilian Organization
With innovation-based competition gaining greater importance in recent years, a central issue for researchers is how Information Technology (IT) can help companies strengthen their innovative capability. Within this context, APIs are a very important part of modern software businesses since they allow different companies to interact offering more innovative products. This means that a company needs to be able to document and manage its API, i.e., to monitor its clients’ usage, identify important clients, etc. This work describes Sharingan, a management module for RESTful API documentation and management implemented using Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP). Sharingan monitors HTTP requests directed to the API, as well as their responses to clients, and extracts and persists information composed in these requests’ bodies. This information is used to create an analytics dashboard that allows users to understand and make decisions about the managed API. The management module was evaluated in a case study and due to its results, it has been applied to other APIs within a Brazilian government organization.