Build a simple Json based REST API in Golang | b... https://medium.com/@rehanjaved237/build-a-simp...

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Build a simple Json based REST API

in Golang
Rehan Javed Follow
Aug 3 · 5 min read

Photo by Tianyi Ma on Unsplash

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Build a simple Json based REST API in Golang | b... https://medium.com/@rehanjaved237/build-a-simp...

This tutorial will help you understand and build an API in Golang. In
this tutorial we well be building a REST API that will allow the users
to view, add, update and delete books in a library. The final source
code is available on Github.

. . .

Prerequisites:
We assume that you already have the latest version of Go Installed.
In case you don’t have installed it, check out this tutorial.

Getting Started:
First of all start be creating a folder called rest-api can move into the
newly created directly.

$ mkdir rest-api

$ cd rest-api

Now create the main.go file. This will be the entry point of our
application.

$ touch main.go

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Open the main.go file in your text editor. In case you have Vs-Code
Installed, run this command.

$ code main.go

By now main.go file should be opened in Vs-Code. Now define the

main package and write a small test program to see if everything is
working fine.

hello-world program - Golang hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

1 package main
2
3 import ("fmt")
4
5 func main() {
6 fmt.Println("Hello World");
7 }

Now to test it. Run the following commands.

$ go run main.go

Expected Results:

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$ Hello World

So by now we have created a simple hello-world program in golang.

main is the package where we deploy our executable programs. It
tells that the program should compile as an executable program
rather than a shared library. func main() is the function name that
acts as the entry point of the application.

Setting up the HTTP Server using Gorilla

Mux:
The name mux stands for “HTTP request multiplexer”. Gorilla Mux is
an opensource package that implements the request router and
dispatcher for matching incoming requests to their respective
handlers. To use it you first need to install it. Run the following
commands to install the Gorilla Mux package.

$ go get -u github.com/gorilla/mux

Now by using Gorilla Mux we will be implementing our first home

endpoint “/”.

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1 package main
2
3 import (
4 "fmt"
5 "log"
6 "net/http"
7
8 "github.com/gorilla/mux"
9 )
10
11 func home(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
12 fmt.Fprintf(w, "<h1>Congrats. Run Successfully!</h1>")
13 }
14
15 func main() {
16 router := mux.NewRouter().StrictSlash(true)
17 router.HandleFunc("/", home)
18 log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8080", router))

Following output should be seen whenever the “/” endpoint will be

hit on url http://localhost:8080/. Following output should be
observed whenever this http://localhost:8080/ will be hit.

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Install a tool named POSTMAN. It is one of the most famous API

testing tools. It will help you to communicate and send requests to
your API.

Working on our REST API:

Now, if you have installed POSTMAN and you are done with the past
steps than we are ready to go for the API development.

- Create a dummy database

We are creating a dummy database that will be containing some of
the already present books in the library.

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1 // A global variable that is incremented everytime a book is added.

2 // Used for providing a unique ID to each book
3 var count int
4
5 // Book Struct
6 type Book struct {
7 ID int `json:"id"`
8 Isbn string `json:"isbn"`
9 Title string `json:"title"`
10 Author *Author `json:"author"`
11 }
12
13 // Author Struct
14 type Author struct {
15 FirstName string `json:"firstname"`
16 LastName string `json:"lastname"`
17 }
18
19 // A slice that will contain the books

The `json:"name"` term indicate how each name will be interpreted

when converting back and forth in Json.

The slice books will contain all the books. We he reading, adding,
updating and deleting data from this slice via the API calls.

- View All Books:

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1 // Give all the books

2 func getBooks(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
3 w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
4
5 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(books)
6 }

view raw

The line w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

updates the header and tells the receiving system that the Content-
Type of the data it is going to receive will be in the Json Format.

The expected result in PostMan is:

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In case you don’t write w.Header().Set("Content-Type",

"application/json") the output will be like this:

As you can see, the receiving system won’t be able to interpret that the
data it received is in JSON.

- View a single Book based on its ID:

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1 // Give a book with some ID

2 func getBook(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
3 w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
4 vars := mux.Vars(r)
5
6 for _, book := range books {
7 if strconv.Itoa(book.ID) == vars["id"] {
8 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(book)
9 return
10 }
11 }
12
13 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(&Book{})
14 }

The endpoint for this call is /api/books/{id} and uses a GET method.
By using the Gorilla Mux we get the value of “id” and after filtering
that book we display a specific book as a response to the user. In case
the book of that id is not present that we send back an empty book
indicating that this record is not found.

The expected result in Postman is:

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- Add a new Book

1 // Adds a new Book

2 func addBook(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
3 w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
4
5 var book Book
6 _ = json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&book)
7
8 book.ID = count
9 count++
10
11 books = append(books, book)
12
13 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(book)
14 }

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The endpoint for this call is /api/books and uses a POST method. The
data received is decoded and added into the Book object. The object is
later appended to the books slice. The book which is successfully
added is displayed to the user.

The expected output after sending a POST request from Postman is as

follows:

- Update an existing book based on ID

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1 // Updates a book with some ID

2 func updateBook(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
3 w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
4 vars := mux.Vars(r)
5
6 var tempBook Book
7 for index, book := range books {
8 if strconv.Itoa(book.ID) == vars["id"] {
9 _ = json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&tempBook)
10 tempBook.ID = index
11 books[index] = tempBook
12 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(books[index])
13 return
14 }
15 }
16
17 json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(&Book{})
18 }

The endpoint for this call is /api/books/{id} and uses the PUT
request. By using the Gorilla Mux we get the value of “id” and after
filtering that book we replace it with the newly provided book.

The expected output after sending a PUT request from Postman is as

follows:

Golang Restful Api Json Api Web Development API

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Discover
Welcome to a place where
words matter. On
smart voices and original
ideas take center stage - w
no ads in sight.

- Delete a book based on its ID

The endpoint for this call is /api/books/{id} and uses the Delete request. By
using the Gorilla Mux we get the value of “id” and after filtering that book we
remove it from the slice. If a book is found and removed successfully than the
content of that book is displayed to the user or else an empty book is displayed.

The expected output after sending a DELETE request from Postman is as follows:

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Preparing the routes

Now combining all the routes, we get:

Complete Code:
This is the complete project code in case you want to have a look.

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