SOA Software, a cloud services management vendor, announced an updated solution that provides broader support for API description languages including RAML, Swagger, WSDL, and WADL. The vendor’s API Management platform now supports for multiple API Description Languages (API DL), intended to help enterprises secure, manage, and monetize APIs described in RAML, Swagger, WSDL, or WADL.
“API DL languages are still evolving – new languages are emerging and as of now, there is no clear leader,” said Alistair Farquharson, CTO of SOA Software. “The API language that is right for one organization may not fit the working style of the next organization. Our API Management platform’s API DL capability has been designed with the changing API DL landscape and the dynamic enterprise in mind. Most enterprise will have at least two API DL to manage at one time, especially if they have any existing SOAP-based APIs.”
As a result, customers no longer have to make the choice of an API DL based on what a platform can or cannot support, according to the vendor. They don’t have to choose just one API DL for the entire enterprise. Instead, according to a statement from SOA Software, customers can allow each team to choose the API DL that best suits the way they work and yet have consistent centralized control to ensure the APIs meet enterprise standards and policies. The architecture team may choose RAML to design the API top down and generate the initial stubbed code. The developers may then choose to document the final code by running Swagger codegen that is then displayed in the developer porta.
Multi-API DL is supported by SOA Software’s platform throughout the API lifecycle, enabling users to manage wherever in the lifecycle they choose. For example, a user may choose to forgo design time management and just manage in the runtime. The API DL can also be imported directly into SOA Software’s Lifecycle Manager for design time governance and deployment automation. Once imported, design time policies can be validated and runtime policies can be attached automatically. With one click in Lifecycle Manager, the user can automate the deployment of the API to the API Gateway and to Community Manager.
For more information on SOA Software’s API Platform, see http://www.soa.com.