[GitHub] [airflow-site] ephraimbuddy commented on a change in pull request #274: Implementing stable REST API for Apache Airflow

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ephraimbuddy commented on a change in pull request #274:
URL: https://github.com/apache/airflow-site/pull/274#discussion_r464190162



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File path: landing-pages/site/content/en/blog/implementing-stable-API-for-Apache-Airflow.md
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+---
+title: "Implementing Stable API for Apache Airflow"
+linkTitle: "Implementing Stable API for Apache Airflow"
+author: "Ephraim Anierobi"
+twitter: "ephraimbuddy"
+github: "ephraimbuddy"
+description: "An Outreachy intern's progress report on contributing to Apache Airflow REST API."
+tags: ["REST API"]
+date: "2020-07-19"
+---
+
+My [Outreachy internship](https://outreachy.org) is coming to its ends which is also the best time to look back and
+reflect on the progress so far.
+
+The goal of my project is to Extend and Improve the Apache Airflow REST API. In this post,
+I will be sharing my progress so far.
+
+We started a bit late implementing the REST API because it took time for the OpenAPI 3.0
+specification we were to use for the project to be merged. Thanks to [Kamil](https://github.com/mik-laj),
+who paved the way for us to start implementing the REST API endpoints. Below are the endpoints I
+implemented and the challenges I encountered, including how I overcame them.
+
+### Implementing The Read-Only Connection Endpoints
+The [read-only connection endpoints](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9095) were the first endpoint I implemented. Looking back,
+I can see how much I have improved.
+
+I started by implementing the database schema for the Connection table using [Marshmallow 2](https://marshmallow.readthedocs.io/en/2.x-line/).
+We had to use Marshmallow 2 because Flask-AppBuilder was still using it and Flask-AppBuilder
+is deeply integrated to Apache Airflow. This meant I had to unlearn Marshmallow 3 that I had
+ been studying before this realization, but thankfully, [Marshmallow 3](https://marshmallow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html) isn't too
+ different, so I was able to start using Marshmallow 2 in no time.
+
+This first PR would have been more difficult than it was had it been there was no reference
+endpoint to look at. [Kamil](https://github.com/mik-laj) implemented a [draft PR](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9045) in which I took inspiration from.
+Thanks to this, It was easy for me to write the unit tests. It was also in this endpoint that
+ I learned using [parameterized](https://github.com/wolever/parameterized) in unit tests :D.
+
+### Implementing The Read-Only DagRuns Endpoints
+
+This [endpoint](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9153) came with its many challenges, especially on filtering with `datetimes`.
+This was because the ``connexion`` library we were using to build the REST API was not validating
+date-time format in OpenAPI 3.0 specification. This I would later find out, was intentional.
+Connexion dropped `strict-rfc3339` because of the later license which is not compatible with
+Apache 2.0 license.
+
+I implemented a workaround on this, by defining a function called `conn_parse_datetime` in the
+API utils module. This was later refactored and thankfully, [Kamil](https://github.com/mik-laj)
+ implemented a decorator that allowed us to have cleaner code on the views while using this function.
+
+We later tried using `rfc3339-validator` whose license is compatible with Apache 2.0 licence but
+ later discarded this because with our custom date parser we were able to use duration and
+ not just date times.
+
+### Other Endpoints
+I implemented some different other endpoints. One peculiar issue I faced was because of Marshmallow 2
+not giving error when extra fields are in the request body. I implemented a `validate_unknown`
+method on the schema to handle this. Thankfully, Flask-AppBuilder updated to using Marshmallow 3,
+we quickly updated Flask-AppBuilder in Apache Airflow and started using Marshmallow 3 too.
+
+Here are some PRs I contributed that are related to the REST API:
+
+ 1. [Add event log endpoints](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9227)
+    The event log would help users get information on operations performed at the UI
+
+ 2. [Add CRUD endpoints for connection](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9266)
+    This PR performs DELETE, PATCH and POST operations on ``Connection``
+
+ 3. [Add log endpoint](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9331)
+    This PR enable users to get Task Instances log entries
+
+ 4. [Move limit & offset to kwargs in views plus work on a configurable maximum limit](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9431)
+    This helped us in having a neat code on the views and added configurable maximum limit on query results.
+
+ 5. [Update FlaskAppBuilder to v3](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9648)
+    This enabled Airflow to start using v3 of Flask App Builder and also enabled the API to use
+     a modern database serializer/deserializer
+
+ 6. [Add migration guide from the experimental REST API to the stable REST API](https://github.com/apache/airflow/pull/9771)
+    This would enable users to start using the stable REST API in less time.

Review comment:
       No, but the stable REST API has not been released yet




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