Importing APIs from IBM API Connect

You can discover and import published APIs from IBM® API Connect Enterprise as a Service into IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service. You can then use imported APIs as target applications in your flows.

Before you begin

  • To discover APIs, you must have an instance of API Connect Enterprise as a Service in the same region as your API Connect Enterprise as a Service instance. Both instances must be provisioned under the same username. If you have an existing trial instance of App Connect, you can provision an API Connect trial instance in the same region. To provision a trial instance of API Connect Enterprise as a Service from the App Connect Designer home page, click Manage API flows by using IBM API Connect. For more information, see Purchase, subscription, and upgrade information in the API Connect documentation.
  • Be aware of OpenAPI specification restrictions.
  • Check the known limitations for API Connect Enterprise as a Service.

About this task

API Connect Enterprise as a Service is a cloud-based edition of API Connect. You can use API Connect Enterprise as a Service to create, manage, secure, and socialize APIs in the cloud. Like IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service, API Connect Enterprise as a Service is hosted on Amazon Web Services and is managed by IBM.

In API Connect, API providers use products to offer one or more APIs to API consumers. A product is a package that contains APIs and plans, which control access to the APIs and manage API usage. Products are staged to a development catalog, then published to a production catalog on a developer portal. Each production catalog has an associated developer portal to make published products available to API consumers. For more information, see Understanding API Connect in the API Connect Enterprise as a Service documentation.

When you import APIs from API Connect into App Connect, you can choose published APIs from the API Connect catalogs that you have access to. After you import an API into App Connect, you can add it to a flow as a target application.

Procedure

To import an API from API Connect, complete the following steps.

  1. In the App Connect navigation pane, expand the Connect category Icon for the Connect category of the navigation pane, click Applications and APIs, then click the Add connector or API icon (+).
    The Add connector or API icon on the Applications & APIs page to add a connector or API to the Applications & APIs page.
  2. On the Import or discover page, select Discover an API from API Connect, then click Next.
    The image shows that the selected option is "Discover an API from IBM API Connect".
  3. On the Select an API catalog page, select the API catalog that contains the API that you want to import, then click Next.
    The image shows that a catalog called "Production catalog" is selected.

    The catalogs that you have access to in API Connect Enterprise as a Service are shown with the name and region of your API Connect region. For more information, see Creating and configuring catalogs in the API Connect documentation.

  4. On the Select an API page, expand the appropriate product, select an API, then click Next.
    The image shows that a product called Store1 is expanded and an API called Petstore is selected.
  5. On the Review properties page, enter a name for the API so that you can identify it in the App Connect catalog.
    The name can be a maximum of 30 alphanumeric characters and can include spaces, hyphens, underscores, periods, colons, ampersands, asterisks, and parentheses. You can also enter a description of up to 250 characters that summarizes the functions of the API. If the API Connect product has a description, it is shown in this field but you can update it.
    The defined operations in the imported API are shown as actions.
    The image shows the Review properties page, that has a name and description for the API, and a list of actions from the API (listPets, createPets, and showPetById).
  6. Click Import API.

Results

The imported API is shown in the list of connectors on the App Connect Applications and APIs page. Expand the API to see the available actions that you can use in your flows, and to connect to the API.
The imported API is shown on the App Connect Applications & APIs page with a Connect button. The actions for the API are listed, and a link is provided to remove the API.

What to do next

  • To pass data between an imported web service and applications or APIs on the App Connect Applications and APIs page, you must connect App Connect to each web service, API, and application in the flow. You can connect to the web service from the flow editor when you add it to a flow or you can connect from the App Connect Applications and APIs page.
  • After you connect to the web service, you can add it as a target application to a flow.
  • When you no longer need the web service, you can remove it from the Applications and APIs page.
For more information, see How to use IBM App Connect with APIs from IBM API Connect.