Appoints-Api – A simple example appointment scheduler REST API

Appoints is one of my pet projects. It’s an appointment scheduler application and I’m using it to explore new technologies and to refine existing development methods.
To stay buzzword-compliant, Appoints needs a REST API. I’ve been in some projects lately where we have had mixed results with REST API’s and client apps, so I decided to do it properly this time. Some requirements:

• Keep it simple;
• Design API-first;
• Accessible for both JavaScript and native (mobile) clients;
• 3rd party authentication: no need for user registration and management;
• Testable;
• Keep it simple.

The result is at GitHub: https://github.com/martijnboland/appoints-api-node. I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out :-). It’s build with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB via Mongoose. In my opinion, this is currently the most productive technology stack for this kind of applications. I also managed to sprinkle some Hypermedia functionality on top of the API by conforming to the HAL specification.

You can find a live version of the API at https://appoints-api.azurewebsites.net. For more information about the usage of the API, head over to the GitHub site. I‘d love to add an API documentation site, but I am still looking for solutions.

Next, I’ll probably create an example JavaScript client so we have a full example. At the same time, it would be very nice if anyone would be able to build a native client. Shouldn’t be too hard.