rest api demo w/ go

README.md

Quick demo showing how to to simulate a simple REST API.

Credit where due: this demo is based on this example from Ardan Studios' training materials. We're using httprouter for routing and added a retrieve handler for retrieving users by ID (/users/:id).

See also this example, reflecting basic practices for designing a REST API.

Usage

Start the server:

go run server.go

Create new users:

curl -d "name=jack"          \
     -d "[email protected]" \
     -d "phone=444-444-4444" localhost:4000/users

curl -d "name=jill"          \
     -d "[email protected]" \
     -d "phone=555-555-5555" localhost:4000/users

... or just run the attached post.sh script to avoid all that typing:

$ . post.sh 
creating jack ...
creating jill ...
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:23:16 GMT
Content-Length: 214

[{"Id":"0006bc90-d7d3-11e4-8cd5-1093e9029432","Name":"jack","Email":"[email protected]","Phone":"444-444-4444"},{"Id":"0009f23f-d7d3-11e4-8cd5-1093e9029432","Name":"jill","Email":"[email protected]","Phone":"555-555-5555"}]

List users:

curl -i localhost:4000/users | jq .

The -i flag indicates we want to see the response header as well, so we should get something like ...

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:07:04 GMT
Content-Length: 116

[
  {
    "Phone": "444-444-4444",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Name": "jack",
    "Id": "19ea9175-d7d0-11e4-92b1-1093e9029432"
  },
  {
    "Phone": "555-555-5555",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Name": "jill",
    "Id": "2e593381-d7d0-11e4-92b1-1093e9029432"
  }
]

Retrieve a user by ID:

curl localhost:4000/users/19ea9175-d7d0-11e4-92b1-1093e9029432

  {
    "Phone": "444-444-4444",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Name": "jack",
    "Id": "19ea9175-d7d0-11e4-92b1-1093e9029432"
  }

Search for a user by name:

curl localhost:4000/search?q=jill

  {
    "Phone": "555-555-5555",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Name": "jill",
    "Id": "2e593381-d7d0-11e4-92b1-1093e9029432"
  }

post.sh

# make users

URL=localhost:4000/users

echo "creating jack ..."
curl -d "name=jack"          \
     -d "[email protected]" \
     -d "phone=444-444-4444" $URL

echo "creating jill ..."
curl -d "name=jill"          \
     -d "[email protected]" \
     -d "phone=555-555-5555" $URL

curl -i $URL

server.go

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "net/http"
    "strings"

    "github.com/satori/go.uuid"
    "github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter"
)

// user represents a user in the system.
type user struct {
    Id    string
    Name  string
    Email string
    Phone string
}

// users is a slice of users.
var users []user

func main() {
    mux := httprouter.New()
    mux.GET("/users", list)         // list users
    mux.POST("/users", create)      // create a user
    mux.DELETE("/users", refuse)    // not allowed
    mux.GET("/users/:id", retrieve) // retrieve user with id
    mux.GET("/search", search)      // search users by name
    http.ListenAndServe(":4000", mux)
}

// list returns a JSON representation of existing users.
func list(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, _ httprouter.Params) {
    send(w, http.StatusOK, users)
}

// create creates a new user.
func create(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, _ httprouter.Params) {
    u := user{
        Id:    uuid.NewV1().String(),
        Name:  r.PostFormValue("name"),
        Email: r.PostFormValue("email"),
        Phone: r.PostFormValue("phone"),
    }
    users = append(users, u)
    http.Redirect(w, r, "/users", http.StatusSeeOther)
}

// retrieve returns the user with the specified ID (`/users/:id`).
func retrieve(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, p httprouter.Params) {
    id := p.ByName("id")
    for _, u := range users {
        if u.Id == id {
            send(w, http.StatusOK, u)
            return
        }
    }

    http.Error(w, "Not Found", http.StatusNotFound)
}

// search returns the first matching user (`/search/?q=jill`).
func search(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, _ httprouter.Params) {
    query := r.URL.Query().Get("q")
    if query == "" {
        http.Error(w, "Query Required", http.StatusBadRequest)
        return
    }

    for _, u := range users {
        if strings.Contains(u.Name, query) {
            send(w, http.StatusOK, u)
            return
        }
    }

    http.Error(w, "Not Found", http.StatusNotFound)
}

// send returns a JSON encoded representation of `val` 
// with status code `code`.
func send(w http.ResponseWriter, code int, val interface{}) error {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    w.WriteHeader(code)
    return json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(val)
}

// refuse returns a `Method Not Allowed` response.
func refuse(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, _ httprouter.Params) {
    http.Error(w, "Not Allowed", http.StatusMethodNotAllowed)
}