How to implement a REST API Server? [closed]

Question

I am a university student with an intermediate level of C++ programming experience. I would like to implement a simple REST based API for my application as quickly as possible.

I have looked at Casablanca and libWebSockets but the examples posted on their respective sites are a bit over my head. Is there any library that has more beginner oriented tutorials on creating a RESTFUL API Server in C++ ?

Note: I am aware that this question has been asked a few times in C# but the answers are over a year or two old and mostly not aimed at beginners. I hope that a new post will yield some fresh answers!

Answer 1

Restbed offers asynchronous client/server capabilities via ASIO and C++11. We have lots of examples and documentation will be available shortly for those who don't like reading header files.

#include <memory>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <restbed>

using namespace std;
using namespace restbed;

void post_method_handler( const shared_ptr< Session > session )
{
    const auto request = session->get_request( );

    int content_length = 0;
    request->get_header( "Content-Length", content_length );

    session->fetch( content_length, [ ]( const shared_ptr< Session > session, const Bytes & body )
    {
        fprintf( stdout, "%.*s\n", ( int ) body.size( ), body.data( ) );
        session->close( OK, "Hello, World!", { { "Content-Length", "13" } } );
    } );
}

int main( const int, const char** )
{
    auto resource = make_shared< Resource >( );
    resource->set_path( "/resource" );
    resource->set_method_handler( "POST", post_method_handler );

    auto settings = make_shared< Settings >( );
    settings->set_port( 1984 );
    settings->set_default_header( "Connection", "close" );

    Service service;
    service.publish( resource );
    service.start( settings );

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

The next major feature will allow the ability to dependency inject application layers.

auto settings = make_shared< Settings >( );

Service service;
service.add_application_layer( http_10_instance );
service.add_application_layer( http_11_instance );
service.add_application_layer( http2_instance );
service.add_application_layer( spdy_instance );
service.start( settings );

Answer 2

http://pistache.io/ looks a good and modern to me. The hello world is just 9 lines long.

Answer 3

ngrest is a simple REST framework with epoll, codegeneration, command line tool, extensions and other sugar.

It's easy in use and suitable for beginners; written on C++11 and uses CMake for build.