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Building RESTful Web services with Go
Building RESTful Web services with Go

Building RESTful Web services with Go: Learn how to build powerful RESTful APIs with Golang that scale gracefully

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Building RESTful Web services with Go

Handling Routing for Our REST Services

In this chapter, we will discuss routing of the application. For creating an API, the first step is to define routes. So, to define routes, we need to figure out available constructs in Go. We begin with the basic internal routing mechanism in Go. Then, we see how to create a custom Multiplexer. Since ServeMux's capabilities are very limited, we will explore a few other frameworks built to serve this purpose. This chapter also includes creating routes using third-party libraries such as httprouter and Gorilla Mux. We are going to build a URL-shortening API throughout this book. In this chapter, we define routes for the API. Then, we discuss topics like SQL injection of an URL. A web framework allows the developer to create a route as the first step and then attach handlers to it. Those handlers hold the business logic of the application...

Getting the code

Understanding Go's net/http package

Go's net/http package deals with HTTP client and server implementations. Here, we are mainly interested in the server implementation. Let us create a small Go program called basicHandler.go that defines the route and a function handler:

package main
import (
"io"
"net/http"
"log"
)
// hello world, the web server
func MyServer(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
io.WriteString(w, "hello, world!\n")
}
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/hello", MyServer)
log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8000", nil))
}

This code does the following things: 

  1. Create a route called  /hello
  2. Create a handler called MyServer.
  3. Whenever the request comes on the route (/hello), the handler function will be executed.
  4. Write hello, world to the response.
  5. Start the server...

ServeMux, a basic router in Go

ServeMux is an HTTP request multiplexer. The HandleFunc we used in the preceding section is actually a method of ServeMux. By creating a new ServeMux, we can handle multiple routes. Before that, we can also create our own multiplexer. A multiplexer just handles the logic of separating routes with a function called ServeHTTP. So if we create a new struct with the ServeHTTP method, it can do the job.

Consider a route as a key in a dictionary (map), then the handler as its value. The router finds the handler from the route and tries to execute the ServeHTTP function. Let us create a program called customMux.go and see this implementation in action:

package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"net/http"
)
// CustomServeMux is a struct which can be a multiplexer
type CustomServeMux struct {
}
// This is the function...

Introducing httprouter, a lightweight HTTP router

httprouter, as the name suggests, routes the HTTP requests to particular handlers. Compared to the basic router, it has the following features:

  • Allows variables in the route paths
  • It matches the REST methods (GET, POST, PUT, and so on)
  • No compromising on performance

We are going to discuss these qualities in more detail in the following section. Before that, there are a few noteworthy points that make httprouter an even better URL router:

  • httprouter plays well with the inbuilt http.Handler
  • httprouter explicitly says that a request can only match to one route or none
  • The router's design encourages building sensible, hierarchical RESTful APIs
  •  You can build efficient static file servers

Installation

...

Introducing Gorilla Mux, a powerful HTTP router

Mux stands for the multiplexer. Similarly, Gorilla Mux is a multiplexer designed to multiplex HTTP routes (URLs) to different handlers. Handlers are the functions which can handle the given requests. Gorilla Mux is a wonderful package for writing beautiful routes for our web applications and API servers.

Gorilla Mux provides tons of options to control how routing is done to your web application. It allows a lot of features. Some of them are:

  • Path-based matching
  • Query-based matching
  • Domain-based matching
  • Sub-domain based matching
  • Reverse URL generation

Installation

Installing the Mux package is fairly simple. You need to run this command in the Terminal (Mac and Linux)...

Getting the code


You can download the code for this chapter from  https://github.com/narenaryan/gorestful/tree/master/chapter2. Feel free to add the comments and pull requests. Clone the code and use the code samples in the chapter2 directory.

Understanding Go's net/http package


Go's net/http package deals with HTTP client and server implementations. Here, we are mainly interested in the server implementation. Let us create a small Go program called basicHandler.go that defines the route and a function handler:

package main
import (
    "io"
    "net/http"
    "log"
)
// hello world, the web server
func MyServer(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
    io.WriteString(w, "hello, world!\n")
}
func main() {
    http.HandleFunc("/hello", MyServer)
    log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8000", nil))
}

This code does the following things: 

  1. Create a route called  /hello
  2. Create a handler called MyServer.
  3. Whenever the request comes on the route (/hello), the handler function will be executed.
  4. Write hello, world to the response.
  5. Start the server on port 8000. ListenAndServe returns error if something goes wrong. So log it using log.Fatal.
  6. The http package has a function called HandleFunc, using which we can map an URL to a function.
  1. Here,...
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Key benefits

  • Follow best practices and explore techniques such as clustering and caching to achieve a reactive, scalable web service
  • Leverage the Gin Framework to quickly implement RESTful endpoints
  • Learn to implement a client library for a RESTful web service using Go

Description

REST is an architectural style that tackles the challenges of building scalable web services and in today's connected world, APIs have taken a central role on the web. APIs provide the fabric through which systems interact, and REST has become synonymous with APIs. The depth, breadth, and ease of use of Go, makes it a breeze for developers to work with it to build robust Web APIs. This book takes you through the design of RESTful web services and leverages a framework like Gin to implement these services. The book starts with a brief introduction to REST API development and how it transformed the modern web. You will learn how to handle routing and authentication of web services along with working with middleware for internal service. The book explains how to use Go frameworks to build RESTful web services and work with MongoDB to create REST API. You will learn how to integrate Postgres SQL and JSON with a Go web service and build a client library in Go for consuming REST API. You will learn how to scale APIs using the microservice architecture and deploy the REST APIs using Nginx as a proxy server. Finally you will learn how to metricize a REST API using an API Gateway. By the end of the book you will be proficient in building RESTful APIs in Go.

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for those who want to learn to build RESTful web services with a framework like Gin. To make best use of the code samples included in the book, you should have a basic knowledge of Go programming.

What you will learn

  • Create HTTP handler and introspect the Gorilla Mux router
  • OAuth 2 implementation with Go
  • Build RESTFul API with Gin Framework
  • Create REST API with MongoDB and Go
  • Build a working client library and unit test for REST API
  • Debug, test, and profile RESTful APIs with each of the frameworks
  • Optimize and scale REST API using microservices

Product Details

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Publication date : Dec 28, 2017
Length: 316 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788294287
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Product Details

Publication date : Dec 28, 2017
Length: 316 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788294287
Languages :
Concepts :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
Getting Started with REST API Development Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Handling Routing for Our REST Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Middleware and RPC Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Simplifying RESTful Services with Popular Go Frameworks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with MongoDB and Go to Create REST APIs Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Protocol Buffers and GRPC Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with PostgreSQL, JSON, and Go Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Building a REST API Client in Go and Unit Testing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Scaling Our REST API Using Microservices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Deploying Our REST services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using an API Gateway to Monitor and Metricize REST API Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Handling Authentication for Our REST Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.8
(9 Ratings)
5 star 55.6%
4 star 0%
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2 star 11.1%
1 star 11.1%
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Franc Hauselmann Dec 29, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Easy to read, straight to the point, a lot of content with source code, great tips! Thanks to the author!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Nguyen Duc Hoang Feb 21, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good book :)
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R3V0 Aug 03, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Covers a broad range of topics
Amazon Verified review Amazon
ILoveMySillyBanana Feb 27, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Probably shouldn’t be your first intro to go, but very good otherwise. If you know go or are relatively comfortable with web development in any other languages you should be fine.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
VIKAS KUMAR MISHRA Jan 17, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Nice Book for a beginner like me.Everything was clearly explained and micro-services topic is very helpful to me.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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