APIKit v0.3b is now available for download.

This update includes a few fixes and the ability to output as XML by providing parameter format=xml on the request.

It really needs your feedback on code-quality, bugs, and potential improvements. Any source contributions/patches/improvements are very welcome Please add your questions to the APIKit Support & Questions forum

The APIKit framework is a simple PHP application to host a RESTful API on your existing web site or application.

The APIKit outputs in JSON so can be easily consumed in the widest variety of platforms and languages with minimal overhead.

It also supports interconnectivity via triggers, allowing you to forward API calls on to other companies or your own remote instances of the APIKit, and receive triggered calls from other instances. This helps make direct B2B operations easy to setup and maintain.

A self-documenting configuration system ensures that all functions offered by your API are not only easy to configure and rollout, but they’re also easy to discover, understand, and use for all your API consumers.

The main benefits of the APIKit are:

• Automate complex business process across multiple servers and/or companies
• Self-documenting specification model builds great documentation automatically
• Widely supported and simple PHP for easy expansion of the framework
• Low API setup costs due to minimal integration requirements with your existing systems
• Automated distribution/visibility of your services via central registration
• Easy to change and maintain
• Lightweight implementation minimises resource requirements

The APIKit is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 3.0. To use the framework you must share any changes or improvements you make so the wider community may benefit, and you must provide attribution in the form of a link to http://www.apikit.org on your API documentation page.

In addition, it would be greatly appreciated (though not essential) if you use the APIKit to host services for your company or website, that you announce it’s use and spread the word that creating an API to your data need not be complicated or expensive.

The underlying ideology of the APIKit is covered best by Tim Berners-Lee in his awesome TED Talks presentation: Raw Data Now. There is an endless underbelly of data out there going to waste simply because most organisations cannot spend the time and resources to make it available via ‘pretty’ user interfaces.

Well now, it’s easy: add the APIKit to your server and let other developers make it available for you

The first release version of APIKit is now available for download. This is a beta release, and not yet recommended for production systems (although it is currently running the live API on picNiche.com quite nicely).
The source currently contains the documentation on installation and setup, though I’m sure there are unanswered questions. I’ll add a detailed post as soon as I know what is missing.

The package also includes a simple javascript class to easily consume the JSON provided by the API webservice. There is also a sample /docs page showing prettified output from the getSpecification function.

The API is demonstrated at http://apikit.org/api/ with the generated documentation page (including js) at http://apikit.org/api/docs/
If you’re not sure where to start, check out the docs page for a list of functions, and execute them against the api using the /api/?func=’functionName’ form.

It really needs your feedback on code-quality, bugs, and potential improvements. Any source contributions/patches/improvements are very welcome Please add your questions to the APIKit Support & Questions forum