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I am not sure what the correct terminology is as I have not seen this topic discussed in any articles. Often to call an API one must find the number of parameters from another API/service etc. My question is from the point of view ofthe Web Service/API user, what is the chain of API/Services to be called so that when we get to call use the given API/Web-Service we have all the variables required to make the call? Are there tools available to help with either documentation or discovery of required API calls (like what are all the parameters needed to call any given API)?

I'am not looking for a specific language/technology based solution, just something to help with API authoring or usage as it is a tedious process to find a list of API/services required to call in order to be able to call another specific API manually.

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  • The right sequence of calls to an API or Service; Does not depends on your business logic? I mean, there's no sequence at all, because the sequence may vary depending on consumers needs and its requirements. Don't you think so?
    – Laiv
    Commented Sep 4, 2016 at 13:43
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    However, there are patterns or principles like HATEOAS which responses does reference to another resources informing the URI to them, instead of ids or nested objects. Here a reference en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HATEOAS
    – Laiv
    Commented Sep 4, 2016 at 13:54
  • @Laiv : Nothing todo with what I think or not. At times to call an API ended up needing a parameter value that was not clear which API provided it. Here is an example : Get list of tracks for female singers that lyrics are in english for past 4 years, try it with Spotify or Soundcload. Consumer needs is very clear, the sequence of calls is next to impossible to deduce from their API docs.
    – jimjim
    Commented Sep 4, 2016 at 13:57
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    This is a well know and old 'drama' we devs face out almost every day. The solution often relay on the documentation. If there's any.
    – Laiv
    Commented Sep 4, 2016 at 14:10
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    SOAP APIs have WSDL which can be used to formally specify the API, but most JSON REST APIs you just have to depend on reading the documentation.
    – Sean Burton
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 16:59

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