PYTHR/deployment/content/unit-6-flask/instructor-resources/06-flask-apis

APIs and Requests in Flask

Overview

This is a lesson on creating an API in Flask. It starts by recapping web terms like HTTP, then has students create a JSON list in their Flask app. They GET the list with one route, then POST to it with another.

Important Notes or Prerequisites

There are a few notes on calling the OMDb API, but it's agnostic enough that it can be spun as an example, if you're teaching standalone.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, students will:

• Create an API that makes a GET request with Flask.
• Create an API that makes a POST request with Flask.

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Duration

30 minutes

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Suggested Agenda

Time	Activity	Purpose
0:00 - 0:02	Welcome	Introduce the lesson’s objectives and agenda.
0:02 - 0:10	APIs and HTTP	Recap the main terminology involved in APIs.
0:10 - 0:19	Creating a GET Request	Create an API that makes a GET request with Flask.
0:19 - 0:27	Creating a POST Request	Create an API that makes a POST request with Flask.
0:27 - 0:30	Summary	Wrap up the learning and share next steps.

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Differentiation and Extensions

• More advanced students may work on adding authentication into their Flask app.
• Struggling students should review the lesson on APIs from Unit 5.
• Students may also wish to explore their POST/GET requests in the Chrome extension Postman.
  • This is a GUI-friendly version of the command line version taught in the lesson.

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Lesson Procedure

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Activity: Welcome (2 min)

Introduce the lesson objectives and agenda.

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Activity: APIs and HTTP (8 min)

Recap the main terminology involved in APIs.

Teaching Tips:

• APIs are the vehicle that drive most of the modern web.
• Knowing how to create and consume APIs is important for a variety of coding tasks, regardless of job title.
• Flask provides an incredibly lightweight module for our purposes.

Talking Points:

• Ask students if they have any familiarity interacting with APIs outside of the last unit's materials.
• It's important to explain to students that in Unit 5 we called an API. Today we are creating an API.
• This can be explained with an example like, "In Unit 5 we were reading a book, and today, we're writing a book that others can read."
• Calling an API allows you to retrieve data, while creating an API makes some data that you want to publish accessible.

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Activity: Creating a GET Request (9 min)

Create an API that makes a GET request with Flask.

Teaching Tips:

• Explain how this differs from just returning a variable. What makes this an API?
• This is a code-along/We Do. Have students open code editors and terminal, then follow along.
• We are actually doing two things at once here: We're creating data, and then we're creating an API where one could obtain that data. We're focusing more on the latter task, so as to emphasize creating the API.

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Activity: Creating a POST Request (8 min)

Create an API that makes a POST request with Flask.

Teaching Tips:

• This is a code-along/We Do. Students will extend the app they have been creating since the hello_world app.
• Similar to the GET activity, we're creating the data that we will append to the list with a POST request.

Talking Points:

• This POST request is using a simple example.
• Explain why we would do this! The example is very simple. This can extend to Create/Update data into a number of other applications: search bars, adding data into databases, and so on.

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Activity: Summary (3 min)

Wrap up the learning and share next steps.