Centralized application programming interface monitoring tool

• US 9,646,092 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2014
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ADP, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ADP LLC (ADP, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cooper, Thomas A., Heasman, Nick, Meta, Ijoni
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US14/512,064
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105328A1
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

Methods and systems for the collecting and monitoring of information related to the performance of application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided. A method includes obtaining one or more various measurements of performance of the APIs, and assessing a performance status for each API based on the obtained one or more various measurements of performance. The method further includes displaying, the performance status for each API and the APIs, and searching for a particular API of the displayed APIs using a search technique configured to compare a keyword indicative of the particular API to all fields of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects that have been used to define the APIs. The method further includes displaying the particular API including the performance status for the particular API, the one or more various measurements of performance for the particular API, and methods of the particular API, as a result of the searching.

Claims

1. A method of providing performance data for a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs), comprising:

obtaining, by a computer system, one or more various measurements of performance of the APIs;

assessing, by the computer system, a performance status for each API based on the obtained one or more various measurements of performance;

displaying, by the computer system, the performance status for each API and the APIs;

searching, by the computer system, for a particular API of the displayed APIs using a search technique configured to compare a keyword indicative of the particular API to all fields of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects that have been used to define the APIs; and

displaying, by the computer system, the particular API including the performance status for the particular API, the one or more various measurements of performance for the particular API, and methods of the particular API, as a result of the searching.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more various measurements of performance of the APIs are obtained from stubs on one or more computing devices operably connected to a network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising saving the one or more various measurements of performance in a database such that the one or more various measurements of performance are linked with each respective source stub and include a date and time stamp.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing comprises determining a quantifiable health metric for each API that is indicative of the performance status for each API.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the health metric is either weighted or non-weighted.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the displaying comprises generating a graphical user interface comprising a dashboard that includes the performance status for each API shown in proximity to each corresponding API, wherein the performance status for each API is shown as a visual indicator of the quantifiable health metric determined for each API.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of one of the methods of the particular API.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying parameters of the selected method.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising initiating a live API call using the displayed parameters of the selected method to a running application, and receiving data in an open standard format used by the selected API for transmitting data between software applications.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the step of assessing is provided by a service provider under a subscription agreement.

11. A computer program product comprising computer readable program instructions stored on non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the computer readable program instructions causing a computing device to:

obtain one or more various measurements of performance of a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs);

assess a performance status for each API based on the obtained one or more various measurements of performance;

display, at a computing device with a screen display, at least a portion of a dashboard including the performance status for each API and the APIs;

detect a first input on the dashboard that initiates a comparison of a keyword indicative of a particular API to all fields of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects that have been used to define the APIs;

in response to detecting the first input, display methods of the particular API in a first additional window;

detect a second input at a location of a method on the first additional window;

in response to detecting the second input, display parameters of the method in a second additional window;

detect a third input at a location of a mechanism on the second additional window; and

in response to detecting the third input, initiate a live API call to a running application on one or more computing devices using the parameters of the method of the particular API.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or more various measurements of performance of the APIs are obtained from stubs on one or more computing devices operably connected to a network.