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Specification-Driven Code Generation for Inter-parameter Dependencies in Web APIs

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Service-Oriented Computing – ICSOC 2022 Workshops (ICSOC 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13821))

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Abstract

The generation of code templates from web API specifications is a common practice in the software industry. However, existing tools neglect the dependencies among input parameters (so called inter-parameter dependencies), extremely common in practice and usually described in natural language. As a result, developers are responsible for implementing the corresponding validation logic manually, a tedious and error-prone process. In this paper, we present an approach for the automated generation of code for inter-parameter dependencies in web APIs. Specifically, we exploit the IDL4OAS extension for specifying inter-parameter dependencies as a part of OpenAPI Specification (OAS) files. To make our approach applicable in practice, we present an extension of the popular OpenAPI Generator tool ecosystem, automating the generation of Java and Python code for the management of inter-parameter dependencies in both servers and clients. Evaluation results show the effectiveness of the approach in accelerating the development of APIs, generating up to 9.4 times more code than current generators, while making APIs potentially more reliable.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.yelp.com/developers/documentation/v3/business_search.

  2. 2.

    https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/issues/256.

  3. 3.

    https://swagger.io/docs/specification/describing-parameters.

  4. 4.

    https://github.com/enriquebarba97/openapi-generator/tree/java-idl-dependencies.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially supported by the European Commission (ERDF) and Junta de Andalucía under project EKIPMENT-PLUS (P18-FR-2895), and by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE under project ATENEA (PID2021-126227NB-C22).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain

    Saman Barakat, Enrique Barba Roque, Ana Belén Sánchez & Sergio Segura

Authors
  1. Saman Barakat
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  2. Enrique Barba Roque
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  3. Ana Belén Sánchez
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  4. Sergio Segura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saman Barakat .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Malaga, Málaga, Spain

    Javier Troya

  2. Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Raffaela Mirandola

  3. University of Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain

    Elena Navarro

  4. University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Andrea Delgado

  5. University of Seville, Sevilla, Spain

    Sergio Segura

  6. University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain

    Guadalupe Ortiz

  7. Faculty of Informatics, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

    Cesare Pautasso

  8. Karlsuhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Christian Zirpins

  9. University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    Pablo Fernández

  10. ISA, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Antonio Ruiz-Cortés

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Barakat, S., Roque, E.B., Sánchez, A.B., Segura, S. (2023). Specification-Driven Code Generation for Inter-parameter Dependencies in Web APIs. In: Troya, J., et al. Service-Oriented Computing – ICSOC 2022 Workshops. ICSOC 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13821. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26507-5_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26507-5_21

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