The Miranda API: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:35, 9 January 2019

Miranda has a fabulous web interface available at collections.folger.edu/, but that's not all. Our interface relies upon a GraphQL API available to all comers at https://collections.folger.edu/graphql.

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a way for programs to talk to each other. (Or, sometimes, for dedicated individuals to talk to computer programs.) GraphQL (https://graphql.org/) offers an approach to APIs that lets the requestor define what's returned.

One of the real pleasures of working with GraphQL is it is largely self-documenting. Usually when programmers use that phrase, it means they're too busy to describe how their system works. In this, case, however, the kind folks who built GraphQL did a lot of work to support our laziness. The best way to explore a GraphQL API endpoint is using the very cool GraphiQL, (https://github.com/graphql/graphiql) which provides an interface for writing queries, receiving replies, and, best of all, exploring the types of queries the system can answer.

Read our API guide. Please note: This version was written prior to our Miranda beta launch, and represents work done so far. We continue to work on and improve Miranda.

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+Miranda has a fabulous web interface available at collections.folger.edu/, but that's not all. Our interface relies upon a GraphQL API available to all comers at <nowiki>https://collections.folger.edu/graphql</nowiki>.
+An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a way for programs to talk to each other. (Or, sometimes, for dedicated individuals to talk to computer programs.) GraphQL (<nowiki>https://graphql.org/</nowiki>) offers an approach to APIs that lets the requestor define what's returned.
+One of the real pleasures of working with GraphQL is it is largely self-documenting. Usually when programmers use that phrase, it means they're too busy to describe how their system works. In this, case, however, the kind folks who built GraphQL did a lot of work to support our laziness. The best way to explore a GraphQL API endpoint is using the very cool GraphiQL, (<nowiki>https://github.com/graphql/graphiql</nowiki>) which provides an interface for writing queries, receiving replies, and, best of all, exploring the types of queries the system can answer.
+Read our API guide. Please note: This version was written prior to our Miranda beta launch, and represents work done so far. We continue to work on and improve Miranda.