---
title: SI16 API node.js + express prototype
description: Test for an API-based special issue
date: 14/11/2021
git: 
categories:
 - Web
 - API
 - REST
 - SI16
---

## Test for an API-based special issue

- The backend is developed with node.js and express
- Each URL is mapped to a python script. The argument are passed to the script, processed and then returned as JSON
- We start with 2 functions: 1. a find and replace and 2. a shout

(__update:__ hei this is not active anymore! [but we really did an API at the end!](issue.xpub.nl/16) aha!)

## Wait what why an API

![two half bikes attacched with tape and two kids pretty satisfied with their work](/soupboat/~kamo/static/img/api_bikes.jpg)


This is to show what an API could be in relation to the exercises we usually do during the prototyping class.
It is a way to render public a piece of work that usually stays behind several layers of accessibility. 
The idea of the special issue as an API could be a curated collection of what we are doing since september within a critical context. 🤯

### Find and Replace


Find a target string in a text and replace it with the given replacement. The parameters are three.

- `text` the text in which perform the research
- `target` the string we are searching for
- `replacement` the string we want to insert in place of the target

The endpoint is:   
`https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/cat-api/replace?text={text}&target={target}&replacement={replacement}`