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Subscriber

Last updated on May 30, 2024 | Also applies to ColdFusion

ColdFusion

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The API Manager-Subscriber portal enables an API subscriber perform the following:

View all published APIs
View all subscribed APIs
Search for APIs and view them according to category
View the parameters that an API requires
Generate an API key
Choose an SLA tier
Create applications
View notifications from publisher

Logging in

To log in to the subscriber portal:

Enter <localhost or IP address>:<port number>/portal/ in the address bar of a web browser.
Enter the user name and password.
Click Login.

Browse APIs

After successfully logging in to the portal, you can view the list of subscribed APIs.

Choose any API.
On the API Details page, you can view the description of the subscribed API, including:
- Name and description of the API
- Version of the API
- Visibility of the API
- Context of the API
- Lifecycle of the API
Choose any API. To try out the API, click Try Out. Select the application and the response content type. Click Run API call. You can see the following results.

Viewing all APIs

In this page, you can view all APIs you have subscribed to.

API Catalog

In this page, you can filter all subscribed APIs according to the visibility and time (newest or oldest). You can view the APIs along with their version, visibility, description, and so on.

Using a REST API from ColdFusion server

Once a publisher creates an API from a ColdFusion server, you can consume and test the API.

Choose the API from the API catalog.
Click Resources on the left panel to view the API details.
To test the API, click Try Out. Choose an application and click Run API Call. You can see the API returns the current date. Expand the Request Details and Response Details tabs to view the URL and status code.

Consuming a Swagger API

Once an API publisher publishes a Swagger API, you can test the API and use the API in your applications. Go to the API catalog to view a list of all public APIs you can use.

Choose the API from the API catalog.
Click Resources on the left panel to view the API details.
Choose a method for a resource to test the API.
To test the API, click Try Out. Enter the value of petid and select an application. Click Run API Call.

You can see the JSON-formatted response of the API call. For example,

Consuming a SOAP API

Once an API publisher publishes a SOAP API, you can try the API and use the API in your applications. Go to the API catalog to view a list of all public APIs you can use.

Choose the API you want to tryout from the list of APIs.
Click Test this API from the left panel of the API details screen.
You can see the proxy WSDL, WSDL port type, and the operation. You can also see the REST endpoints and their bindings. Choose the appropriate SOAP type.
Enter a BLZ code in the SOAP body and choose an application. For example, enter the BLZ code 50040000. Click Run API Call.

You can see the SOAP API returns the name of the bank that has the BLZ code 50040000. The response is as follows:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<soapenv:Envelope
    xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soapenv:Body>
        <ns1:getBankResponse
            xmlns:ns1="http://thomas-bayer.com/blz/">
            <ns1:details>
                <ns1:bezeichnung>Commerzbank</ns1:bezeichnung>
                <ns1:bic>COBADEFFXXX</ns1:bic>
                <ns1:ort>Frankfurt am Main</ns1:ort>
                <ns1:plz>60005</ns1:plz>
            </ns1:details>
        </ns1:getBankResponse>
    </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Creating an application

You can create an application and get your API subscribed to the application. Enter the name and description of the application you want to create and click Create Application.

You subscribe to a published API before using it in your applications. Subscription enables you to receive access tokens and be authenticated to call the API.

Subscribing to an application

Once you create an application, you need an API to subscribe to the application. Choose the API and click Subscribe on the left pane. Select the application and choose the SLA plan. Click Subscribe. The publisher chooses the SLA plans for you.

You can see a list of applications that are waiting for approval from the API publisher. You can also modify and delete a subscription.

Authorizing scope at application level

As a subscriber, you can select an application and restrict its scope.

To subscribe to an application, click Subscribe.

To see the security keys of the application, click Applications.

1	Name of the application.
2	This is an application key for a resource that has authentication of type apikey. When this key is used, the production endpoint of the API receives the request.
3	This is same as application key, but when this key is used, sandbox endpoint of the API receives the request.
4	The client ID uniquely identifies the application and is used when there is an authentication type of basic or Oauth2.
5	Client secret is used when authentication type is Oauth2 when obtaining the token using authorization code grant or client credentials flow. This must be kept secret.

Note:

Security Considerations- Items 2, 3, and 5 must be kept secret and not be exposed outside. If any of these get compromised, regenerate the keys so that the previous compromised keys get invalidated. Use the newly generated credentials in your application. When passing the credentials, use HTTPS.

The Refresh Token Lifetime is always greater than the Access Token Lifetime.

IDP Metadata URL: Specifies the metadata URL of the SAML identity provider. If any of the APIs subscribe using SAML and OAuth authentication, and your IDP hosts the metadata, enter the IDP URL here.

IDP Raw Metadata: Same as above. If you have the identity metadata, paste the XML here.

Only those tiers or usage plans associated with an approval goes to the publisher. The rest is auto-approved.

Authenticating API at subscription level

You can only make an API request once the administrator approves your subscription request. The following image represents the API subscription approval from the publisher.

Once the publisher approves your application request, you can see the application key. You can use this key to make the request.

Viewing the analytics dashboard

The analytics dashboard for a subscriber consists visualizations for the number of applications, number of API requests, and API errors. Click Analytics to launch the Subscriber analytics dashboard page.

There are three types of dashboards in the Subscriber portal:

Applications
Subscriptions
Errors

Applications: On the Applications panel, you can see the following visualizations:

1	Pie-chart for the number of requests for applications.
2	The number of API requests.
3	Line-chart for the number of application requests.
4	Line-chart for the average data consumption by the applications.
5	Line-chart for average response times for applications.

Subscriptions: On the Subscriptions panel, you can see the following visualizations:

1	Pie-chart for the number of requests for subscriptions (applications and API).
2	The number of API requests.
3	Pie-chart for the number of requests for SLA plans.
4	Line-chart for the number of requests for subscriptions (applications and API).
5	List for maximum throttling limit per SLA plan.
6	Line-chart for average data consumption.
7	Line-chart for average response time for subscriptions.

Errors: On the Errors panel, you can see the following visualizations:

1	The number of errors for subscriptions and SLA plans.
2	The number of errors for different status codes.
3	Line-chart for requests for all status codes.
4	Pie-chart for the top five types of error.
5	List for top ten resources with maximum number of errors.

Filtering data according to time range

In the Analytics page, you can filter the results according to a time range.

There are three ways options:

Quick
Relative
Absolute

To filter the data according to time range:

Click the time filter as shown below:
Select any time range from the list, as shown below:

If you select Today, you can see the analytics of all APIs for the last 24 hours.
Click Relative. You can filter the data from a specified date and time to the current date and time.
Click Absolute. You can filter the results according to dates.