What is CRUD API?

APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are the backbone of today's applications. Whether you're building a mobile app or a web application, you'll often need to work with APIs. The CRUD APIs stand out as fundamental for performing basic operations such as creating, updating, reading, and deleting some objects. Here, I'll break down what CRUD APIs are, how they relate to JSON REST APIs, and walk you through trying out CRUD operations using Beeceptor, a tool that simplifies API learnings, development & integration.

What is a CRUD API?

CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete—four essential functions that are the foundation of any web application's interaction with data. A CRUD API allows you to interact with a system's data by performing these operations.

Each CRUD operation typically maps to an HTTP method:

• Create: This operation creates a new record in the database, often mapped to the POST method in an HTTP request.
• Read: Used to retrieve data, this is mapped to the GET method.
• Update: This operation modifies an existing record and is mapped to the PUT or PATCH method.
• Delete: Used to remove data, this is linked to the DELETE method.

These operations are the core actions you perform when interacting with databases, and APIs provide the interface to execute them across various systems.

Relation Between CRUD APIs and JSON REST APIs

To understand CRUD APIs, let's first know about REST (Representational State Transfer) and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). A REST API is a set of rules that developers follow when they create APIs. REST APIs are stateless, meaning each request is independent, making them easier to scale and manage.

Now, most modern APIs use JSON as the data format because it is lightweight, easy to read, and easy to process. Combining these two, CRUD operations fit perfectly with JSON REST APIs, where data exchange happens in JSON format while performing CRUD actions through REST architecture.

For example, here’s how CRUD operations would work with a JSON REST API:

POST /users: Create a new user.
GET /users/{id}: Retrieve information about a user.
PUT /users/{id}: Update the details of a user.
DELETE /users/{id}: Delete a user.

Using JSON makes APIs easier to work with because of its simple and human-readable structure.

Why CRUD APIs Are Easy to Work With

CRUD APIs are considered easy for several reasons:

Clear Mapping to HTTP Methods: The operations map directly to standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. This eliminates complexity because these methods are universally understood across systems.

Readable JSON Format: With JSON being the standard data format for most APIs, it's easy to structure requests and interpret responses. JSON is compact and simple, which speeds up the development process.

REST's Stateless Nature: Each REST API request is independent, meaning there’s no need to keep track of the application’s state between requests. This keeps things simple and lightweight, allowing CRUD operations to focus solely on the requested action.

Hands-On: CRUD In Beeceptor

Beeceptor is an excellent tool for experimenting with CRUD APIs without setting up a server. It allows you to create mock endpoints to simulate how real-world APIs work.

Let’s walk through a practical example of how to try CRUD operations in Beeceptor.

1. Setting Up Your Beeceptor endpoint: Visit Beeceptor. Once inside, create a new endpoint. Beeceptor will generate a unique URL that you can use for testing.
2. Creating a Mock CRUD API: In Beeceptor, you can create mock endpoints that respond to different HTTP methods (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE). These endpoints will simulate a typical CRUD API.
3. Example CRUD Operations: Let’s create a sample API to manage user data.

Create (POST):

curl -X POST https://{your-endpoint}/users -d '{"name": "John Doe", "email": "[e-mail]"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json"

In Beeceptor, you can set up a mock response for this POST request. When the above command is executed, Beeceptor will respond with a message that simulates the creation of a user.

Read (GET):

curl -X GET https://{your-endpoint}/users/1

This request simulates retrieving a user’s data by their ID. Beeceptor will return a predefined response with user information.

Update (PUT):

curl -X PUT https://{your-endpoint}/users/1 -d '{"name": "John Updated"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json"

This command simulates updating a user’s information.

Delete (DELETE):

curl -X DELETE https://{your-endpoint}/users/1

Finally, this command simulates deleting a user by their ID.

1. Testing Your API with Postman or curl You can use Postman or the curl command-line tool to make these HTTP requests. Beeceptor will simulate the response and show you how a real API would behave in different scenarios.