Creating modern microservices

Prerequisites

Before we start, ensure you Xcode, Swift and Vapor Toolbox installed.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Project

Create a new project by opening your terminal and running the following command:

vapor new APIService

Navigate into your project directory and generate the Xcode files:

cd HelloWorld
vapor xcode -y

Step 2: Building Your First Route

Define a new route by open routes.swift in your Xcode project. This file is where you'll define your routes. Add a new route to return a simple "Hello, world!" message:

import Vapor

func routes(_ app: Application) throws {
    app.get { req in
        return "It works!"
    }

    app.get("hello") { req -> String in
        return "Hello, world!"
    }
}

Select the Run scheme in Xcode and click the play button to build and run your project. Vapor will start a local server on http://localhost:8080. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/hello. You should see the message "Hello, world!".

Step 3: Adding a JSON Endpoint

Define a JSON endpoint by adding a new route that returns JSON data. Modify your routes.swift file:

import Vapor

func routes(_ app: Application) throws {
    app.get { req in
        return "It works!"
    }

    app.get("hello") { req -> String in
        return "Hello, world!"
    }

    app.get("json") { req -> [String: String] in
        return ["message": "Hello, JSON!"]
    }
}

Test your JSON endpoint by navigating to http://localhost:8080/json in your browser. You should see the following JSON response:

{
    "message": "Hello, JSON!"
}

Step 4: Handling Parameters

Add a route that takes a name parameter and returns a personalized greeting:

import Vapor

func routes(_ app: Application) throws {
  app.get { req in
      return "It works!"
  }

  app.get("hello") { req -> String in
      return "Hello, world!"
  }

  app.get("json") { req -> [String: String] in
      return ["message": "Hello, JSON!"]
  }

  app.get("hello", ":name") { req -> String in
      let name = req.parameters.get("name") ?? "stranger"
      return "Hello, \(name)!"
  }
}

Test your parameterized route by navigating to http://localhost:8080/hello/John in your browser. You should see the message "Hello, John!".

Conclusion

You've now created a basic web service using Vapor! This tutorial covered setting up a Vapor project, defining routes, returning JSON data, and handling URL parameters. Vapor is a powerful framework with many more features to explore, such as middleware, authentication, and database integration.