Basic API requests

Introduction

Making a basic API request is the first step to interacting with the Koala API. This article will guide you through the process of setting up your environment, making a request, and understanding the response structure.

Prerequisites

Before making your first API request, ensure you have completed the following steps:

1. Registered for an account on the Koala API website.
2. Generated your API keys from the dashboard.
3. Installed necessary tools such as a REST client (e.g., Postman) or have a working environment for making HTTP requests using your preferred programming language.

Setting Up Your Environment

For demonstration purposes, we will describe the process using a cURL command to make a basic API request. You can adapt the example to your preferred tool or programming language.

1. Install cURL: If you don't have cURL installed, download and install it from cURL's official website.
2. Get Your API Key: Ensure you have your API key ready, which you generated from your account dashboard.

Making a Basic Request

We'll describe making a GET request to the Koala API to fetch a list of available resources.

Breaking Down the Request

• Method: GET - We are fetching data, so we use the GET method.
• URL: We access the endpoint to retrieve the list of resources.
• Headers:
  • Include the API key in the Authorization header for authentication.

Handling the Response

Upon making the request, you will receive a response from the Koala API. The response typically includes a status code and a body containing the requested data or an error message.

Understanding the Response

• Status Code: Check the HTTP status code to determine if the request was successful (e.g., 200 OK).
• Body: The body of the response will typically be in JSON format. In this example, it includes a list of resources with their respective IDs, names, and descriptions.

Common Status Codes

• 200 OK: The request was successful.
• 401 Unauthorized: Authentication failed. Check your API key.
• 404 Not Found: The requested resource could not be found.
• 500 Internal Server Error: An error occurred on the server.

Error Handling

If your request fails, the response will include an error message. The error message will help you diagnose issues such as invalid API keys or incorrect endpoints.

Conclusion

Making a basic API request with the Koala API is straightforward. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can quickly start fetching data and integrating it into your application. For more advanced requests and features, refer to the subsequent sections of the documentation.