Create SQL Server APIs in Minutes

DreamFactory specializes in REST API generation for a range of databases that gives you the ability to generate a secure, fully documented API in minutes.

Handwriting code for database APIs can be a time consuming and expensive process that often exposes organizations to a variety of risks relating to quality, consistency, and developer effort.

This article will highlight how easy it is to create a SQL Server API, demonstrating how you could save your organization considerable time, money and effort during the API development process.

Generating the SQL Server REST API

To commence generating your SQL Server REST API, you’ll login to the DreamFactory administration interface, navigate to Services and then enter the service creation interface by clicking on the Create button located to the left of the screen.

Step 1: Select your database

From there you’ll select the SQL Server service type by navigating to Database > SQL Server

Step 2: Provide a name, label, and description for your database

Here you will be prompted to provide a name, label, and description.

The latter two are used just for reference purposes within the administration interface, however the name value is particularly important because as you’ll soon see it will comprise part of the API URL.

Step 3: Enter database connection credentials

In the Config tab you’ll be prompted to provide the database connection credentials.

This should really be nothing new; you’ll supply a host name, username, password, and database.

Additionally, you can optionally specify other configuration characteristics such as driver options, the time zone, and caching preferences.

For the purpose of this tutorial I’ll stick to the required fields and leave the optional features untouched.

Step 4: Interact with your auto-generated API Documentation to find the curl command & request URL

With the credentials in place, just press the Save button at the bottom of the screen, and believe it or not the REST API has been generated!

So what happens in the background is DreamFactory not only generates the API but also generates the corresponding documentation and security controls.

From here, navigate to the API Docs to access all your REST API endpoints, interact with tables and views, explore the schema, and utilize HTTP functionalities (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) and more.

Security & Integration with other Services

As with all DreamFactory REST APIs you will have to secure your SQL Server API with minimum role-based access controls before it can be made public. You can also add headers, add service definitions, and script some powerful automated workflows with the DreamFactory scripting engine.

In a few short minutes, you can have your SQL Server API ready to integrate alongside any number of other Enterprise applications, data sources, or network APIs. DreamFactory also allows you to create, mount, and manage any number of third-party REST APIs with ease under a unified admin dashboard.