Rails-The best way to use external API?

Question

I am developing a Rails application which will need frequent access to public APIs, and I am not sure what is best way to put external API (SOAP/WSDL) code in Rails application, what about model thingy, how we can manage that? Any ideas, comments?

Answer 1

The first thing to do would be to see if there are any gems for the API's you want to interface with. Write a small wrapper class for the gem or just include it and use it where needed.

If you're looking to talk to a REST service, I would suggest the rest-client gem. If you want to do something completely custom you could make use of Jon Nunemaker's HTTParty. Nokogiri, an XML parser gem is useful for consuming XML-based services as well.

Answer 2

The current contenders for "best" library for consuming External SOAP services seems to be either Savon or Handsoap. There is a comparison between the two here

I can't comment on handsoap as I haven't used it by I am happy with Savon which is working well for me.

In terms of Application structure then I would create a folder under lib for the interface named after the external entity and then store files under there using the namespacing features of rails.

So an example I have an external interface to a system called Sentinel. So I have RAILS_ROOT/lib/sentinel and then all classes within that folder are declared within a Sentinel module.