Web services, APIs, structured data. These things are all the rage right now and with good reason. As more and more internet enabled devices start wanting to make use of the data in our websites we need to give them some way to interact with that data that isn't point and click in a browser. Lucky for us Drupal users the Services module for Drupal makes this a pretty straightforward task.
In this episode Addison Berry along with Lullabots Sally Young and Joe Shindelar discuss the Services module for Drupal. Before diving into what the module does, they discuss what Web Services are in general and why you might want to add this functionality to your Drupal powered applications. We talk about the different types of APIs you can create with Services with a lot of focused placed on REST as it's the most popular right now. As well as tips for documenting your Services powered API, writing your own resources to trim the extras off the Services provided responses, and even integrating Services with views.
Did you know that Drupal 8 has a REST server built in and that this is going to be even easier in Drupal 8? We also talk a little bit about how modules like Services or the REST module in Drupal 8 are able to leverage the entity API to make exposing your custom entities as web services often as easy as just enabling the module.
From API's to RESTful web services this podcast is a must listen for anyone looking to extend Drupal beyond just being a website platform.
For even more information about using the Services module make sure and check out the Drupalize.Me series Building Web Services with Drupal 7.
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