As developers, one of our core responsibilities is to provide clear and comprehensive API documentation for our APIs. In the world of Java Spring REST APIs, there are various tools and libraries available to generate API documentation automatically. In this blog post, we will explore how to integrate Java Spring REST Docs with API Blueprint to streamline the API documentation process.

What is Java Spring REST Docs?

Java Spring REST Docs is a powerful tool that generates API documentation by leveraging the test-driven development approach. It allows you to write tests for your API endpoints and generate human-readable documentation from those tests. The documentation includes request and response examples, request parameters, and response schemas.

What is API Blueprint?

API Blueprint is a Markdown-based language for designing and documenting APIs. It provides a simple and intuitive way to describe the structure and functionality of your API endpoints. API Blueprint files can be parsed and converted into various output formats, including HTML, PDF, or even interactive API documentation.

Integrating Java Spring REST Docs with API Blueprint

To integrate Java Spring REST Docs with API Blueprint, we’ll follow these steps:

1. Write API tests using Java Spring REST Docs.

2. Generate API documentation snippets using Java Spring REST Docs.

3. Convert the documentation snippets into API Blueprint format.

4. Convert the API Blueprint file into the desired output format, such as HTML or PDF.

Let’s dive deeper into each step:

1. Write API tests using Java Spring REST Docs

Using Java Spring REST Docs, we write tests for our API endpoints, documenting the expected request and response structures.

import static **org.springframework.restdocs.mockmvc.MockMvcRestDocumentation.*;
import static **org.springframework.restdocs.mockmvc.RestDocumentationRequestBuilders.*;
import static **org.springframework.restdocs.payload.PayloadDocumentation.*;
import static **org.springframework.restdocs.request.RequestDocumentation.*;
import static **org.springframework.restdocs.headers.HeaderDocumentation.*;

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration(classes = { MyAppConfig.class })
@WebMvcTest(MyController.class)
public class ApiDocumentationTest {

    @Autowired
    private MockMvc mockMvc;

    @Test
    public void exampleApiTest() throws Exception {
        ResultActions result = mockMvc.perform(get("/api/example"));

        result.andExpect(status().isOk())
              .andDo(document("example",
                    requestHeaders(
                        headerWithName("Authorization")
                            .description("API token")
                    ),
                    responseFields(
                        fieldWithPath("id").description("The ID of the response"),
                        fieldWithPath("name").description("The name of the response")
                    )
              ));
    }
}

2. Generate API documentation snippets using Java Spring REST Docs

By running our API tests, Java Spring REST Docs generates documentation snippets in a format called ASCIIDoc. These snippets contain the request and response examples, request parameters, and response schemas. For example, running the tests will generate a snippet for the “example” API endpoint.

3. Convert the documentation snippets into API Blueprint format

Using a tool like asciidoctor-maven-plugin, we can convert the documentation snippets (in ASCIIDoc format) into the API Blueprint format. The plugin can be configured in the Maven build file to generate the API Blueprint file automatically.

4. Convert the API Blueprint file into the desired output format

Finally, we can use a tool like aglio or dredd to convert the API Blueprint file into the desired output format, such as HTML or PDF. These tools provide customizable templates to generate visually appealing API documentation.

Conclusion

Integrating Java Spring REST Docs with API Blueprint streamlines the process of API documentation generation. By leveraging the power of Java Spring REST Docs to write API tests, and API Blueprint for design and documentation, we can automate the process and ensure that our API documentation stays up-to-date with the API changes. This integration allows us to provide accurate and comprehensive documentation for our APIs, aiding developers integrating with our API and improving overall developer experience.

#Java #Spring #REST #Docs #APIBlueprint