The vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling version 4.0 was released just two short months ago. This release contained a special new feature known as the vSphere Client Developer Center. As the new, in-client, home for vSphere automation and developer resources, the first available feature was Code Capture. If you’ve ever wanted to see how tasks performed in the UI would look as code, this is it. Today, we have a new release of the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling which adds another new feature to the vSphere Client Developer Center: API Explorer
API Explorer
The API Explorer certainly isn’t a new concept when it comes to vCenter and the vSphere Automation REST APIs. After all, there’s been an API Explorer built into vCenter since the 6.5 release. However, with version 4.1 of the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling, we have added a couple enhancements.
The first of enhancement, easier access. By making the API Explorer available in the vSphere Client itself, it’s easier to find and start the discovery process. As an added bonus, by being in the client, you’re already logged in. That extra step of authenticating is no longer required. This means that any interactions with the REST API will be performed under the credentials of the currently logged in user.
Another important update is the new filtering capability. This greatly eases the process to find certain services and methods available in the vSphere REST API by being able to search for specific words. The filter operates against the URL and description fields. The following example is searching for methods related to “Power State.”
The last big update to cover, there are new ways to interact with the output after a call is performed. At the bottom of each method’s section, there’s a button labeled “Execute.” This button allows us to actually perform the action via the REST API. Friendly reminder, clicking that button will actually perform the request. There’s even a warning which pops up if you try to perform any action that results in changing the environment. The part that’s new to the vSphere Client Developer Center is the ability to either copy the JSON-based response or to download the response to our local system. This allows us to easily store the response for later reference or to view and/or modify the response in an IDE of our choice.
Summary
A new update to the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling has been released. Version 4.1 adds several new, noteworthy features including an update to the vSphere Client Developer Center. This update comes in the form of a new section, titled API Explorer. This new section allows us to interact with the vSphere REST APIs in a similar way to the existing API Explorer, but with a few new updates. Besides the new location, the API Explorer now features the ability to search for certain terms in the URL and/or description, and two new ways to interact with the API call responses.
Download and update to version 4.1 of the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling today, and let us know in the comments what else we should add to the vSphere Client Developer Center!
