Re: [Tiki-devel] Tiki API discussion

Let's see what victor says, but my understanding is the following:

An API is simply a standard way to request or change information in tiki. So we have our tiki interface. You can configure options and do lots do stuff. All that stuff (potentially) can also be done from an external system. The API does this.

As per CalDAV. It might be better to use that than to reinvent the wheel. Technically speaking we could make a Tiki API that does everything CalDAV does. But the API we design would be non-standard. So another program would need to be written on the other end to do something useful with that data. So it is Kinda just a bad idea for that reason and others.

* add a user
* see tracker data
* post an article
* modify a blog
* delete a user
* turn a preference on or off
* add an item to the calendar
* return all calendar events on this upcoming Tuesday.
* tell me the last time a tracker was added
* almost anything that tiki does

Now there is a question of if some of these things should be in the API. But the sky is the limit theoretically.

Our pages could also retrieve data from an API, or something similar to an API (AJAX calls). Right now the logic is not cleanly separated. This won't concern you. (Internal vs external) You won't see a difference. It is part of the huge job mentioned but gains nothing tangible. It just plays a role in code maintainability, probability of bugs, testing, etc. 

AJAX calls were never intended to be API calls, but they work similarly. One of the big differences is that API calls always happen from within tiki. So if we want to do something additional or have a better way of doing something (refractor) we just do it and everything works. But these changes will break connectivity with an outside service that does not know things have changed. So you can get things to “work” but may need to reconfigure somewhat complex requests the next time you update. It could be a pain, especially when updating, and could add to the cost, time and increase the level of expertise needed to do an update. But the tradeoff is low initial expense.

So I am leaving out a lot of technical stuff, but that’s what I have to say. But also think about not only making API calls from other applications but also from other TIki’s. Think about offline mobile apps, what make calls when connected, etc. Or just mobile apps to do something specific. Or versatile.

API = Standard way to talking with Tiki. And everything needed to do that well.

Well, Victor. How did I do? Corrections?

Brendan



> On Nov 17, 2021, at 9:26 PM, Torsten Fabricius via TikiWiki-devel <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>  Hi Victor,
> 
> here my question:
> 
> I understand an API as a tool for kind of integrations.
> 
> Examples:
> https://www.awork.io/en/integrations/ <https://www.awork.io/en/integrations/>
> https://trello.com/integrations <https://trello.com/integrations>
> 
> Is that about, what a Tiki API would be for and in which direction, as you distinguish between internal and external services?
> 
> I am very interested in standart ways of connecting Tiki to other software to either use other software from Tiki - like our BigBlueButton video-conference-class-room (RoundTableMeeting) or the use of synched Tiki calendar data in desktop or phone apps using CalDav.
> 
> Thinking about the term API, I have the idea, that a Tiki installation could be used as a Wiki, respectivels a knowledge-base tool for Nextcloud as it might become very easy to write a Nextcloud app using Tiki "services (?)".
> 
> Or could a Tiki API be used to create a Slack integration for Tiki or a Tiki integration for Slack ... or maybe for Matrix?
> 
> Could you please give (for non-coding consultants) a few more visual examples what we could do with a Tiki API please?
> I am thinking about a few very brief use cases that help to understand what we are talking about. Thx.
> 
> As you asked for feedback about a decision about the actual type of API, it would be helpful to get a picture what we could not do with an AJAX API but possibly with an API from scratch.
> 
> The benefits and drawbacks of the AJAX type sound quite relevant, but I cannot really evaluate how relevant that would be for actual typical use cases.
> 
> Thank you very much in advance.
> And thx to you and the team for the work done until now.
> 
> Torsten
> 
> 
> Am 17.11.21 um 13:33 schrieb Victor Emanouilov via TikiWiki-devel:
>> Dear dev community, 
>> 
>> We are adding an API to Tiki 24. Your input will be highly valuable. 
>> 
>> As discussed previously with Jonny, Marc and others, first step was exploring the opportunity of exposing our ajax-related services as an API. This makes sense but also has some drawbacks discussed below. Main benefits: 
>> - extremely quick start - we have many services accessible via ajax for internal Tiki operations that can be exposed as an API for external systems to retrieve data and manipulate data 
>> - having one and the same code used by internal components and external services will ensure interoperability in the future and same behavior inside and outside Tiki 
>> - avoid designing and especially coding a whole new level of services for the API 
>> - opportunity to enhance existing ajax services with missing pieces like permission enforcement and documentation 
>> Main drawbacks: 
>> - lack the possibility of designing an API around an idea (resources/restful or graphql) 
>> - lack versioning support - changing an ajax service in Tiki automatically changes the API which possibly breaks existing integrations (though we can try to be as much backward-compatible as possible and also provide a list of breaking changes when upgrading Tiki) 
>> - existing services are not restful, neither graph-based, so the resulting API is non-standard 
>> - some of the existing services are not designed to be exposed via API - e.g. Cypht ajax controllers 
>> 
>> Having these points in mind, I started a MR with the quick-win method of exposing Tiki ajax services here:https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1028 <https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/1028> 
>> 
>> Solved some of the problems with authentication (currently bypassing all standard Tiki auth methods and allowing bearer token authentication only for now), CSRF (turning it off for API but also disabling session cookies, so CSRF are not possible via the API), ensure requests are stateless and no JS or other funky stuff is going on. Now we have the remaining TODO items like documenting the services, enforcing permissions, consider versioning and restful resources. I consider 3 possible ways to go forward but needed your input before investing more time: 
>> 
>> 1. Leave the API urls like now 100% based on the ajax services. Typical URL is tiki.org/api/controller/action?param1=val1&param2=val2, e.g. tiki.org/api/tracker/view?id=12. Enhance services with permissions (where missing), document endpoints, input parameters and output. Versioning seems impossible in this case. At least the standard versioning we are used to see. Maybe we can do versioning based on Tiki version - API version 24 is one and the same for all Tiki 24 releases, then we have version 25, etc... 
>> 
>> 2. Add an adapter between ajax services and API. Make adapter versionable (so we have API versions - any time an ajax service is changed, we keep old behavior and add a new adapter for the new version). Adapter will also help us come up with more standard restful API endpoints and input/output. It can skip certain ajax services that doesn't make sense to be exposed. Permissions should still be in the services themselves as currently, it is possible to get any object attribute without even logging in Tiki with a URL like this https://tiki.org/tiki-ajax_services.php?controller=attribute&action=get&type=trackeritem&object=2856&attribute=tiki.geo.lat <https://tiki.org/tiki-ajax_services.php?controller=attribute&action=get&type=trackeritem&object=2856&attribute=tiki.geo.lat>. Documentation will be based on the newly written adapter rather than existing ajax services. Will take more time but solve most of the drawbacks. This is my preferred option. 
>> 
>> 3. Design, write and document an API from scratch. We can make use of existing ajax services in terms of code but don't depend on their controller/action architecture - here we have the utmost flexibility to design a graphql or restful API but also the most time-consuming. Without a specific use-case, a project or a subset of Tiki-stored data and functionality to expose, I think it will be a waste of time for now. Also, one more bit here that's pretty important is the fact that Tiki as a web application is stateful in so many ways - it has extensive use of the PHP session that is not available in an API. Adding a proper stateless API requires refactoring all those interal code elements to depend on incoming params or database rather than the session which is a daunting task to even think about. Tiki will certainly benefit from this refactor but at a price of a huge time commitment. 
>> 
>> I also have a question about API documentation. We have a bunch of options here with most prominent ones being Swagger (OpenAPI), Raml and API blueprint - all of which require a separate set of documentation sources (in yaml, json or markdown format). We will need to go through existing services and document endpoints, required params, input, output, etc. Definitely a big task to do. I think there is also an option to use inline documentation - PHP class and method annotation documentation that can be exported to a visually appealing html doc. Not as robust as the first set of tools I mentioned but having the docs and the code in one place has its benefits (easier updates for example). Anyone has any preferences here? 
>> 
>> Thanks! 
>> Victor 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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