A class-based template for building RESTful APIs in Flask. Provided here more as a reference for people who want to implement their own RESTful API, as opposed to a ready-to-go REST API framework.

• Many existing RESTful APIs did not offer the level of flexibility I wanted (e.g. request authentication are resource-wide and cannot be customized based on request method)
• Keep the overhead as little as possible (e.g. no useless serializers)

• Python 2.6.x or later
• Flask 0.8 or later

• Resource handlers return python data types (e.g. dict, list) instead of HTTP response, so they can be easily called from outside the REST context to get the raw response data
• Request authentication handling, customizable by resource and request method
• Request throttling, customizable by resource and request method
• Request logging, including basic request data and request processing time
• Multiple API versions supported simultaneously
• Fully customizable response data serializer (JSON implemented by default)

1. Clone the repository
2. Make sure the requirements are satisfied
3. Execute runserver.py with Python (server runs on port 5000)
4. Navigate in the browser to "server_address:5000/v1/rest_example" and/or "server_address:5000/v2/rest_example"

• To implement a new RESTful resource in the API, simply create a class based on flask_rest.utils.restview.RestView, and implement the methods needed (get, post, put, delete)
• See flask_rest.example_api_v2.example_handler.ExampleHandler for more details on how to make a fully customized API resource
• To customize authentication, create the appropriate class based on CommonAuthorization in flask_rest.utils.auth (see flask_rest.utils.auth.ExampleAuthorization for more information), then specify the class in the resource handler's init method for the HTTP method wanted
• To customize throttling, create the appropriate class based on CommonThrottle in flask_rest.utils.throttle (see flask_rest.utils.throttle.StrictThrottle for more information), make an instance of the throttle, then use it in the resource handler's init method for the HTTP method wanted
• To add request logging, add the code to the marked section in the __log_request method in flask_rest.utils.restview.RestView
• To register/unregister resource for specific API versions, edit flask_rest.utils.router
• See flask_rest.utils.data_utils for details on how to add more data serializers
• See flask_rest.utils.http_utils for a list of recognized HTTP response names and codes