Strongloop REST Connector - connecting to non-REST remote resources - rest

Question

We have an existing web application which has an API not based on REST. We'd like to put a REST API in front of it, using Strongloop, however, getting lost in the documentation and not sure if this can be achieved.
Example:
Want to configure an endpoint in Strongloop which looks like;
localhost:3000/api/DataObject/Orders?StartDate=01/01/2016&EndDate=31/01/2016
A GET on this end point should service the request from our existing web application, where the URL would like;
localhost:4000/wh?Page=ObjectBuilder&Name=Orders&StartDate=01/01/2016&EndDate=31/01/2016
i.e. take Orders from the API request and insert into the remote URL, along with the remaining parameters.
I could code this using express.js, but was wondering if this is possible using configuration in Strongloop?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I think you might be able to use the built-in REST connector even though your legacy API is not REST per se (although you don't get all the benefits of the built-in mapping to find, create, destroy, etc). The connector simply translates URLs into model methods. That said, I think you do need to have the old API spit out JSON... does it do that? If not, then you basically just have to write a full translator.
This is not working code, but might help you get part of the way there.
In your server/datasources.json file:
"old-service": {
"name": "old-service",
"connector": "rest",
"operations": [{
"template": {
"method": "GET",
"url": "http://localhost:4000/wh",
"headers": {
// whatever you might need to send...
},
"query": {
"Page": "ObjectBuilder",
"Name": "{name}",
"StartDate": "{start}",
"EndDate": "{end}"
},
"responsePath": "$.results.theObject" // be sure to custom ize this
},
"functions": {
"buildObject": ["name", "start", "end"]
}
}]
}
In your server/model-config.json be sure too map your DataObject model to this datasource:
{
// ...
"DataObject": {
"public": true,
"dataSource": "old-service"
},
}
And in your model itself (common/models/DataObject.js) you can now call the buildObject() method:
DataObject.buildObject('Order', '01/01/2016', '31/01/2016', function(err, result, response) {
if (err) { ... }
// otherwise look at the result or response...
});
Now that you can call this method, you could put it into a remoteMethod or even override the default find method for this model.
Good luck, but in many of these cases you simply have to write the "conversion" code yourself. Might be easier to rewrite the API from scratch. ;)