In part 1 of the series, we reviewed some gaps in the Systems Integration solutions and the need to act.
In part 2, we introduced the ExpressConnect Integration solution and its high-level components.
In part 3, we went into the details of ExpressAPI Run-time Components.
In this part, we shall dive into more details of the ExpressAPI Tools components.
To recap, The ExpressAPI consists of two core groups of components:
The "Run-time Components" used during the API execution; and,
The "Tools" used to set up, configure and explore the APIs.
The Run-time Components and Tools include multiple underlying components dealing with specific capabilities.
Fig 1: ExpressAPI expanded solution with sub-components
The "Tools" Components include the following sub-components:
OpenAPI Explorer App:
Once the APIs are developed, socialising the API within the developer community is an additional challenge. The APIs have a lifecycle where they go through changes. Keeping up with the latest changes and maintaining the versions of the offline documents goes out of control, and we generally end up with multiple offline versions of the documentation for the same API.
With different team members involved, the documentation always takes a different shape and form. This presents another set of challenges for the Developers representing the Consumer side of the APIs. A hassle-free onboarding of the APIs requires consistent and latest documentation to be published in a central repository where the developers can explore the API, understand the usage patterns and use cases and test the potential data exchange scenarios before deciding on the consumption patterns.
The OpenAPI Explorer App provides these capabilities packaged as a neat UX App. The App is fully embedded in TRIRIGA and is developed using the ReactJS framework.
The App acts as a repository of the API and aids in the discovery and onboarding of the APIs. The App enables a true sense of self-discovery and takes away countless hours of workshops and assessments to onboard APIs in Consumer systems.
Click on the sections below for a further explanation of the OpenAPI Explorer App capabilities:
Version Management
OpenAPI Specification
Data Models and examples
Security schema
Constructor for Operators
Client Code
API Test Runs
There are exciting roadmap items planned for future releases. Some core enhancements include new UX Apps for Analytics Dashboard, API Administration, and API Builder.
ExpressAPI Native / Classic App
The ExpressAPI capability is embedded within the TRIRIGA tool. This capability is supported by multiple run-time and tooling sub-components, and these sub-components are configured and managed through various Apps within TRIRIGA.
These Apps collectively enable the overall ExpressAPI capabilities.
Click on the sections below for a further explanation of the capabilities:
Data Model Configuration
Cache Configuration
Authentication Provider Server
API License Manager
API Users and Key Managers
Test Configuration and Execution
API Group Manager
The API Group Manager consists of various pre-built APIs related to a specific area of the TRIRIGA application. Customers can opt for only specific API packs relating to the TRIRIGA applications they use or have licenses for.
The API packs are packaged individually and can be deployed independently to a specific TRIRIGA environment.
The basic Portfolio API pack is included as part of the base deployment configuration for the ExpressConnect solution. This includes Organisation, Geography and Location hierarchy-specific APIs.
Fig 19: API Groups
The API Packs are quite a broad topic to cover in a short paragraph. We shall dive into the API packs in a dedicated article sometime in future.
OpenAPI Adaptor
The OpenAPI Adaptor dynamically generates the OpenAPI specifications and manages the APIs' versioning. When published, the APIs defined in TRIRIGA will utilise the OpenAPI Adaptor to publish the OpenAPI specifications ready for consumption.
The OpenAPI Adaptor also acts as a bridge between the API definitions and the OpenAPI Explorer.
The OpenAPI Adaptor is the foundation for future capabilities to enable a design-driven API generation.
Fig 20: OpenAPI Specification
API Builder App
The API Builder is conceived to allow Developers to define, generate and publish the APIs without any configuration or lines of code.
The API Builder App is a future capability and is subject to change. Therefore, we will explore this component further in future.
Metadata Explorer API
The Metadata Explorer APIs are conceived to extend TRIRIGA integration capabilities to allow external Integration middleware toolkits to discover the TRIRIGA APIs and Events and build metadata-aware connectors.
The Metadata Explorer APIs will be utilised as a part of the ExpressAdaptor capability, and a native connector for the AppConnect is planned for release towards the end of Q2 2023.
Fig 21: ExpressConnect extension to external Integration and data platforms
The Metadata Explorer is a future capability whose scope and timelines are subject to change. Therefore, we will explore this component further in future.
Forward-looking statements: Multiple areas in this blog article explore features currently under development or are part of the future roadmap. These features will be released in future; however, all delivery timelines and capabilities are subject to change.
In the next part, we will explore ExpressEvent, the event framework.
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