Create an API directly from a data source

Question

I need to create my own REST API. I just saw strongloop and loopback and I thought it will be perfect for my project.

In fact, I was able to get mysql connected using strongloop. However, I had to create something called a "model" and I did it. But, it was like creating a new model from scratch and use it for persisting on the Datasource.

Instead, what I was looking for, is to get a REST API directly from my model on the DB. I mean taking the models from each table on the DB and then set them up as web services.

Is that possible?

I am newbie on these technologies, although I think it is an interesting question.

Thanks

Answer 1

I'm not sure of a Node tool to do what you're asking, but in other languages / databases you have some choices!

The only one I'm really familiar with is postgrest.

postgrest: You import your data into a Postgres database (similar to MySQL), and it generates a REST API on top of your tables instantly. Bam. Done. I've used this and it was amazingly awesome. You can also deploy it directly on Heroku.

Answer 2

StrongLoop actually has a "discovery" tool for just this purpose! Read up on that page, but here's the basic code to do it. Just drop this code in a file inside /server/boot/ (the docs are wrong on that, it must be in the directory I mention). Of course, you'll need to tailor it for your use case:

var loopback = require('loopback');
var ds = loopback.createDataSource('mysql', {
  "host": "yourhost",
  "port": 1234,
  "database": "foobar",
  "username": "someuser",
  "password": "somepass"
});

// Discover and build models from a given table
ds.discoverAndBuildModels('PERSON', {visited: {}, associations: true},
function (err, models) {
  // Now we have a list of models keyed by the model name
  // You only need the rest of this if wanted to inspect what came in...

  // For example, you could find the first record from the table
  // and verify info or something.
  models.Person.findOne({}, function (err, person) {
    if(err) {
      // handle this if need be...
      console.error(err);
      return;
    }

    // Some code using `person`

  });
});

Good luck!