Plugins

SocialEngine REST API Plugin
Category: API,

This plugin provides robust, secure JSON REST API for SocialEngine. REST API provides a standardised programmatic interface between your SocialEngine based website and outside applications, thus enabling all types of integrations with external applications and development environments. With this plugin, your website's SocialEngine installation can also be used as a backend for native mobile apps.

Price: $199
 + $10
Plugin + Installation
Price: $199
Plugin
SocialEngine-REST-API-cover
This plugin provides robust, secure JSON REST API for SocialEngine. REST API opens up exciting world of possibilities for the SocialEngine platform, and so for your website too. It provides a standardized programmatic interface between your SocialEngine based website and outside applications, thus enabling all types of integrations with external applications and development environments. With this plugin, your website's SocialEngine installation can also be used as a backend for native mobile apps.
 

Provides a standardized programmatic interface between your SocialEngine based website and outside applications.

Enables all types of integrations with external applications and development environments. [See "Use Cases" tab above for some of the numerous possibilities.]

Your website's SocialEngine installation can also be used as a backend for native mobile apps.

Multiple API Consumers / Clients: Multiple API clients can be created to simultaneously consume your API. This supports the numerous possibilities that can be achieved with the API.

Supported Modules / Plugins: This API directly supports all SocialEngine core features, all SocialEngine official plugins, and selected SocialApps.tech plugins. [See "Supported Modules" tab]

  • We're developing APIs for more SocialApps.tech plugins and will be releasing them in subsequent upgrades.

  • 3rd-Party Plugins' API: A big plus point of this API system is that it can easily be extended to other 3rd-party modules / plugins by following 5 well defined steps in the administration of this plugin.

Single Sign On (SSO): With this feature, multiple applications / integrations consuming your API are able to easily maintain user session.

API General Specs:

  • REST API: This API uses standard HTTP methods such as PUT, GET, POST and DELETE.

  • Stateless: API is stateless as per norms, i.e., API clients need to include state information (OAuth token) in their requests to the server and vice versa.

  • JSON: Uses JSON for data exchange.

  • Familiar directory-structure-like URL structures.

Secure API: We've done the best to ensure that this API is highly secure:

  • OAuth: API uses the popular OAuth open standard for authorization for client as well as user authorization. Every user is assigned a unique, client-specific OAuth Token for identification.

  • SSL (HTTPS) support: API requests and responses work well on HTTPS. We recommend all API requests to be sent on SSL.

  • API Consumer Key and Consumer Secret: Every API Client is assigned a unique Consumer Key and a unique Consumer Secret. All API requests from a client should be signed with their respective credentials.

API documentation: Very well documented API. The API documentation is easy to understand and follow. Enables a developer to start building with it quickly. [See documentation demo]

 
Administration:
  • Create, manage, disable / enable API consumers.
  • View respective OAuth tokens for the various API consumers.
  • Revoke API access for a user via a particular API client.
  • Enable / disable API caching.

From small pages & integrations to large applications, this API opens up truly exciting possibilities for your SocialEngine based website. It allows you to authorize applications and services to securely connect to your website and use your content in new ways and offer new functionality:

  • iOS / Android Applications: You can have a single, or multiple iOS / Android applications for your website depending on your strategy. Facebook has multiple apps like Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Facebook Groups. A new API consumer can be created from administration of this plugin for each app. [The SocialApps.tech mobile apps: "iOS Mobile Application - iPhone and iPad" and "Android Mobile Application" use this API too.]
  • Integration with external mobile applications, web applications, services, development environments, etc: The possibilities are endless. This API enables your website to be part of the interactive web. Though we haven't tried such things ourselves, this API will also enable stuff like:
    • Creating IFTTT Recipes related to any of your website's features. 
    • Creating a Facebook Canvas app.
    • and many more..
  • Creating single page applications with Backbone.js, AngularJS, etc related to any of your website's features. Viral call-to-action campaigns can be created with your website's data to get new signups and content.
  • With an authenticated API consumer, API interaction is very simple like:
    • To get your website's recent blog-posts: Send a GET request to:
      https://yourwebsite.com/api/rest/blogs?oauth_consumer_key=p36fxwollgzqqlxdpryfsrfus3f89zmn&oauth_consumer_secret=yu8bmi5cxr553jisbf9f89h6i92uwun1
    • To get your website's recent events: Send a GET request to:
      https://yourwebsite.com/api/rest/events?oauth_consumer_key=p36fxwollgzqqlxdpryfsrfus3f89zmn&oauth_consumer_secret=yu8bmi5cxr553jisbf9f89h6i92uwun1&order=creation_date DESC
    • To get all groups with the search term "football": Send a GET request to:
      http://yourwebsite.com/api/rest/groups?oauth_consumer_key=p36fxwollgzqqlxdpryfsrfus3f89zmn&oauth_consumer_secret=yu8bmi5cxr553jisbf9f89h6i92uwun1&text=football
    • To update a user with User ID 8: Send a POST request (with user account parameters) to:
      http://yourwebsite.com/api/rest/members/edit/profile?oauth_consumer_key=p36fxwollgzqqlxdpryfsrfus3f89zmn&oauth_consumer_secret=yu8bmi5cxr553jisbf9f89h6i92uwun1&oauth_token=276ed9327d0478c2606adea438f4fd15&oauth_secret=ffaff6754b5d4ca5f2fc4cc2a3a75478
      [where 'oauth_token' and 'oauth_secret' are oauth credentials of User ID 8, obtained via the login API call.]
    • and so on..

This API directly supports all SocialEngine core features, all SocialEngine official plugins, and selected SocialApps.tech plugins. We're developing APIs for more SocialApps.tech plugins and will be releasing them in subsequent upgrades. A big plus point of this API system is that it can easily be extended to other 3rd-party modules / plugins by following 5 well defined steps outlined the administration of this plugin.

Can I use my website's APIs concurrently on multiple clients like iOS application, Android application, a stand-alone web application, etc?
Yes. The "API Consumers" section in the Admin Panel of this plugin enables you to create multiple API clients with their own API Consumer Key and API Consumer Secret credentials.
I want to extend these APIs for other modules (other 3rd-party plugins) that are used on my website. Is this possible? If yes, then how?
Yes, this is possible. To extend these APIs for other modules / plugins, please follow the "Guidelines for extending APIs to other modules" from "Global Settings" of this plugin. These APIs are easy to extend, and you may contact the developer of that module for this.
What are the limitations of this API?
Current limitations:
~ The API currently does not support the subscription step in signup. Work on this is planned in the next upgrade.
~ If there is a 3rd-party plugin installed on your website that alters the default signup process of SocialEngine, then those alterations will not be supported in the signup API.
~ The API currently does not support payments.
When will you be releasing APIs for other SocialApps.tech plugins?
We have already begun work on building APIs for other SocialApps.tech plugins, and will soon be sharing with you a roadmap for release of those APIs. If you're a client of a SocialApps.tech plugin, and have this REST API Plugin too, then that plugin's API release upgrade will be available to you for Free.
Is this easy to install?
Yes, absolutely! This plugin will install seamlessly on your SocialEngine with the one click Package installation feature.
What will my plugin download contain?
The plugin download will be a zipped file, which upon extraction will give the plugin package tar file, the license file, and the installation instructions file.
Is this a stand-alone plugin?
Yes, no other plugins are required to run this plugin.
I want to customize this plugin according to the offerings and design of my site. Can you help me?
Yes, please contact us with your customization requirements.
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