loopbackjs - Loopback Connector REST API

Question

How to create an external API on Loopback?

I want to get the external API data and use it on my loopback application, and also pass the input from my loopback to external API and return result or response.

Answer 1

Loopback has the concept of non-database connectors, including a REST connector. From the docs:

LoopBack supports a number of connectors to backend systems beyond databases.

These types of connectors often implement specific methods depending on the underlying system. For example, the REST connector delegates calls to REST APIs while the Push connector integrates with iOS and Android push notification services.

If you post details on the API call(s) you want to call then I can add some more specific code samples for you. In the mean time, this is also from the documentation:

datasources.json

MyModel": {
  "name": "MyModel",
  "connector": "rest",
  "debug": false,
  "options": {
    "headers": {
      "accept": "application/json",
      "content-type": "application/json"
    },
    "strictSSL": false
  },
  "operations": [
    {
      "template": {
        "method": "GET",
        "url": "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/{format=json}",
        "query": {
          "address": "{street},{city},{zipcode}",
          "sensor": "{sensor=false}"
        },
        "options": {
          "strictSSL": true,
          "useQuerystring": true
        },
        "responsePath": "$.results[0].geometry.location"
      },
      "functions": {
        "geocode": ["street", "city", "zipcode"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

You could then call this api from code with:

app.dataSources.MyModel.geocode('107 S B St', 'San Mateo', '94401', processResponse);