BBVA API Market
Before generating the structure of an API, you have to define the business objectives and the technical challenges involved in the creation of this technology. The program administrators have to communicate the key objectives of an API so that the architects can develop the interface.
Once this step has been taken, it is time to decide whether what we need is a service-oriented architecture (SOA) or a web-oriented API. A SOA is focused on facilitating internal and server-to-server integration, while the web API aims to accelerate the creation of mobile and web applications. Most projects that are being generated opt for the development of an API.
The next step is to decide on the design of the technology, which has to be based on what will be associated by the API, in other words, what there will be on both sides of the interface. At this point it is also necessary to decide whether we want a public or private API. Private APIs help internal personnel to develop applications with the company’s resources; while public APIs allow third-party developers to access your APIs, and thus generate a large user database.
One of the most important decisions in the design of an API is to decide on the style you want. The most common styles are those belonging to these categories:
– Web service: a strategy based on operations that use a web services description language (WSDL) to describe interfaces.
– Pragmatic REST: a web-focused strategy for designing the different integration interfaces.
– Hypermedia: a strategy whose aim is to offer a sustainable alternative to pragmatic REST.
– Event boosted: with the arrival of HTML5 and IoT, it has become necessary to generate an alternative that allows applications to use WebSocket and other HTTP options.
Based on the designs just mentioned, an architectural framework has to be created that enables the exclusive functionality of the API. At this stage, there are a number of architectural components that must be implemented in the infrastructure of the main API.
To achieve the best result these components must be organized in three layers:
– Security layer: apart from providing benefits for companies, APIs may also become a threat to security. That is why it is essential to implement a sound and specific security layer on the periphery of the API architecture.
– Cache storage layer: delivers cached responses to common queries. This reduces the pressure on implementations and real administrative resources.
– Representation layer: the presentation must be as simple as possible for developers, so that they can focus on developing a user-friendly access to their APIs.
– Organization layer: if APIs are to be capable of delivering real value, data from various APIs and various administrative resources must be combined. To carry out these compositions an organization layer has to be implemented together with the interfaces.
The data traffic passes through each of the layers described above.
Sources: IBM and Ca Technologies
If you want to discover more about BBVA’s financial APIs, visit this website.
Taking a customer through the entire buying process until it is formalized is an arduous journey and one that faces the constant possibility of the customer leaving. However, there are ways to make the buying decision happen if you are given facilities such as agile, secure financing.
In a connected world, APIs are the glue that keeps all the parts that form our day-to-day lives in place. The same way the power of glue depends on the material it is used on and the knowledge of its properties, APIs are only as useful as their documentation allows for.
There are different solutions to monitor the performance of an API, in terms of traffic, quality and speed of the answers it provides. Detecting faults in the code or quantifying the generated revenues are also some of the options offered by these useful tools.
