Generating Swagger documents

Overview

Swagger is a project specification that is used to describe and document RESTful APIs. In the 2016 release of ColdFusion, you can create swagger doc automatically from REST CFC after it is implemented and registered in server. The Swagger version that is supported in ColdFusion is 1.2.

For more information on Swagger project overview, see the Swagger documentation. Swagger specification 1.2 is available here.

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Document generation process

The Swagger doc generation feature is a part of ColdFusion Server. ColdFusion server generates the Swagger doc automatically once you register REST CFC application.

Creating a REST CFC file

You can create REST CFC application file of your choice and place this file in the root folder (wwwroot) of ColdFusion server. A sample CFC file content structure is shown in the following studentservice.cfc file.

<cfcomponent rest="true" restpath="studentService">       
    <cffunction name="addStudent" access="remote" returntype="void" httpmethod="PUT" description="add student"> 
        <cfargument name="name" type="string" required="yes" restargsource="Form"/> 
        <cfargument name="age" type="numeric" required="yes" restargsource="Form"/> 
            <!--- Adding the student to data base. --->
    </cffunction> 
    <cffunction name="addStudents" access="remote" returntype="void" httpmethod="POST" description="add students"> 
        <cfargument name="name" type="student[]" required="yes" restargsource="body"/>        
            <!--- Adding the student to data base. --->
    </cffunction>
    <cffunction name="deleteStudent1" access="remote" returntype="void" httpmethod="DELETE" description="delete students"> 
        <cfargument name="students" type="student[]" required="yes" restargsource="Body"/> 
            <!--- Adding the student to data base. --->
    </cffunction>
    <cffunction name="updateStudentAddress" access="remote" returntype="address" httpmethod="POST" restpath="{studentId}" description="modify student address" hint="modify the address for given studentId"> 
        <cfargument name="studentId" type="numeric" required="yes" restargsource="PATH" /> 
        <cfargument name="address" type="address" required="yes" restargsource="Body" >
            <!--- Adding the student to data base. --->
    </cffunction>
     <cffunction name="getStudent" access="remote" returntype="Student" restpath="{name}-{age}"  httpmethod="GET" description="retrieve student" produces="application/json" responseMessages="404:Not found,200:Successfull:student" > 
        <cfargument name="name" type="string" required="yes" restargsource="Path"/> 
        <cfargument name="age" type="string" required="yes" restargsource="Path"/> 
            <!--- Create a student object and return the object. This object will handle the request now. --->
        <cfset myobj = CreateObject("component", "Student")>
        <cfset myobj.name = name> 
        <cfset myobj.age = age> 
        <cfreturn myobj> 
    </cffunction>   
</cfcomponent>

Using application.cfc file

If you do not want the ColdFusion server to generate swagger doc automatically, set the following code to false in application.cfc file. Refresh the registered application in CF administrator.

A sample application.cfc file is shown below for your reference.

<cfcomponent>
    <cfset this.name="info" />
    <cfset this.sessionmanagement = true />
    <cfset this.restsettings.generateRestDoc="true">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.title="this is title">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.apiVersion="2.0">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.description="this is description">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.termOfServiceUrl="url is here">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.contact="xyz@adobe.com">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.license="adobe 1.0">
    <cfset this.restsettings.restDocInfo.licenseUrl="http://abc.com">
</cfcomponent>

Using new responseMessages attribute

A new attribute called responseMessages has been introduced in ColdFusion (2016 release). You can use this attribute in REST CFC file as shown in the sample file below.

<cfcomponent rest="true" restPath="/cookieService" produces="text/plain" >
    <!--- Test with various produces --->
    <cffunction name="sayPlainHelloUser" responseMessages="404:Not Found,200:successful,10:notdefine" access="remote" returnType="String" httpMethod="GET" produces="text/plain">
        <cfargument name="nAme" type="string" restargsource="cOOkie" required="false" default="CF">
        <cfset res="Hello " & name>
        <cfreturn res>
    </cffunction>    
</cfcomponent>

The swagger API document generated from this sample responseMessages code appears as shown below.

Registering your CFC application

Start ColdFusion Administrator. Click Data & Services > REST Services on the left pane and add configuration values according to the instructions in the following dialog.

Enter the root path where REST CFCs are available in in your system. Alternatively you can click Browse Server and choose the path where the CFC application resides.

Enter the host name for the REST service. For example, localhost:8500.

Enter the Service Mapping string name. For example, http://localhost/rest/{service mapping}/test.

Select the check-box if you want to set the application as default while calling the web service.

Accessing swagger api-docs

The Swagger representation of the API contains two file types:

The Resource Listing - This is the root document that contains general API information and lists the resources. Each resource has its own URL that defines the API operations on it.
The API Declaration - This document describes a resource, including its API calls and models.

You can verify the ColdFusion generated swagger APIs document by using the ColdFusion server path as follows:

You can access resource listing by using the same path as above without the resourcePath name. (<ColdFusion server URL path:port number>/Service Mapping name>/api-docs)

Service Mapping name is the name that you specify while registering your REST application in ColdFusion server.

For example, localhost:8500/test/api-docs/studentService

The swagger API document generated from the sample studentservice.cfc REST CFC file appears as shown in the following api document:

{
    "swaggerVersion":"1.2",
    "apiVersion":"1.0",
    "basePath":"localhost:8500/rest/test",
    "resourcePath":"/studentService",
    "apis":[
        {
            "path":"/studentService/",
            "description":"",
            "operations":[
                {
                    "nickname":"addStudents",
                    "method":"POST",
                    "summary":"add students",
                    "type":"void",
                    "parameters":[
                        {
                            "name":"name",
                            "paramType":"body",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"array",
                            "items":{
                                "$ref":"student"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "nickname":"deleteStudent1",
                    "method":"DELETE",
                    "summary":"delete students",
                    "type":"void",
                    "parameters":[
                        {
                            "name":"students",
                            "paramType":"body",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"array",
                            "items":{
                                "$ref":"student"
                            }
                        }
                   ]
                },
                {
                    "nickname":"addStudent",
                    "method":"PUT",
                    "summary":"add student",
                    "type":"void",
                    "parameters":[
                        {
                            "name":"name",
                            "paramType":"form",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"string"
                       },
                        {
                            "name":"age",
                            "paramType":"form",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"number"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "path":"/studentService/{name}-{age}",
            "description":"",
            "operations":[
                {
                    "nickname":"getStudent",
                    "method":"GET",
                    "summary":"retrieve student",
                    "type":"student",
                    "produces":[
                        "application/json"
                    ],
                    "parameters":[
                        {
                            "name":"name",
                            "paramType":"path",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"string"
                        },
                        {
                            "name":"age",
                            "paramType":"path",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"string"
                        }
                    ],
                    "responseMessages":[
                        {
                            "code":404,
                            "message":"Not found"
                        },
                        {
                            "code":200,
                            "message":"Successfull",
                            "responseModel":"student"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "path":"/studentService/{studentId}",
            "description":"",
            "operations":[
                {
                    "nickname":"updateStudentAddress",
                    "method":"POST",
                    "summary":"modify student address",
                    "notes":"modify the address for given studentId",
                    "type":"address",
                    "parameters":[
                        {
                            "name":"studentId",
                            "paramType":"path",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"number"
                        },
                        {
                            "name":"address",
                            "paramType":"body",
                            "allowMultiple":false,
                            "required":true,
                            "type":"address"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "models":{
        "address":{
            "id":"address",
            "description":"this is a address component",
            "required":[
            ],
            "properties":{
                "country":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "street":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "houseNo":{
                    "type":"number",
                    "format":"double"
                },
                "state":{
                    "type":"string"
                }
            }
        },
        "student":{
            "id":"student",
            "description":"this is a student component",
            "required":[
                "address",
                "name",
                "age"
            ],
            "properties":{
                "address":{
                    "$ref":"IndiaAddress"
                },
                "name":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "age":{
                    "type":"number",
                    "format":"double"
                }
            }
        },
        "IndiaAddress":{
            "id":"IndiaAddress",
            "description":"India address fromat",
            "required":[
            ],
            "properties":{
                "country":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "pin":{
                    "type":"number",
                    "format":"double"
                },
                "street":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "district":{
                    "type":"string"
                },
                "houseNo":{
                    "type":"number",
                    "format":"double"
                },
                "state":{
                    "type":"string"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

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CFC and Swagger mapping structure

You can compare CFC field types and Swagger field types from the following mapping structures.

Resource listing schema

The Resource Listing serves as the root document for the API description. It contains general information about the API and an inventory of the available resources.

Swagger doc Field Name	Type	Description	CF Fields
SwaggerVersion	String	Required. Specifies the Swagger Specification version being used.	Update programmatically using API Manager
apis	Resource Object	Required. Lists the resources to be described by this specification implementation. The array can have 0 or more elements	N/A
apiVersion	string	Provides the version of the application API	Modify using application.cfc file
info	Info Object	Provides metadata about the API. The metadata can be used by the clients if needed, and can be presented in the Swagger-UI for convenience.	Modify using application.cfc file
authorizations	Authorizations Object	Provides information about the authorization schemes allowed on this API. The type of the authorization scheme. Values MUST be either"basicAuth", "apiKey" or "oauth2".	Update programmatically using API Manager

API declaration schema

The API declaration provides information about an API exposed on a resource. You should have only one file described per resource. The file MUST be served in the URL described by the path field.

Swagger doc Field Name	Type	Description	CF Field
basePath	string	Required. The root URL serving the API.	Add programmatically while parsing CFC
consumes	[string]	A list of MIME types the APIs on this resource can consume. This is global to all APIs but can be overridden on specific API calls.	Cfcomponent.consumes
produces	[string]	A list of MIME types the APIs on this resource can produce. This is global to all APIs but can be overridden on specific API calls.	Cfcomponent.produces
resourcePath	string	The relative path to the resource, from the basePath, which this API Specification describes.	Cfcomponent.restpath
apis	[API Object]	Required. A list of the APIs exposed on this resource. There MUST NOT be more than one API Object per path in the array.	Details in API Object
apiVersion	string	Provides the version of the application API (not to be confused by the (specification version).	N/A
swaggerVersion	string	Required. Specifies the Swagger Specification version being used.	N/A
authorizations	Authorizations Object	A list of authorizations schemes required for the operations listed in this API declaration. Individual operations may override this setting. If there are multiple authorization schemes described here, it means they're all applied.	Add programmatically as API Manager will update Authorization info
models	Models Object	A list of the models available to this resource. Note that these need to be exposed separately for each API Declaration.	Generate programmatically

API object schema

The API Object describes one or more operations on a single path. In the apis array, there MUST be only one API Object per path.

Swagger doc Field Name	Type	Description	CF Field
description	String	A short description of the resource.	Cffunction.description
operations	[Operation Object]	Required. A list of the API operations available on this path. The array may include 0 or more operations.	Details in Operation Object
Path	String	Required. The relative path to the operation, from the basePath, which this operation describes. The value SHOULD be in a relative (URL) path format.	Component.restpath + Cffunction.restpath

Operation object schema

The Operation Object describes a single operation on a path. In the operations array, there must be only one Operation Object per method. This object includes the Data Type Fields in order to describe the return value of the operation. The type field must be used to link to other models.

This is the only object where the type may have the value of void to indicate that the operation returns no value.

Swagger doc Field Name	Type	Description	CF Field
authorization	Authorizations Object	A list of authorizations required to execute this operation	Programmatically from API Manager
consumes	[string]	A list of MIME types this operation can consume.	Cffunction.consumes
method	String	Required. The HTTP method required to invoke this operation. The value MUST be one of the following values: "GET", "HEAD", "POST", "PUT","PATCH", "DELETE", "OPTIONS". The values MUST be in uppercase.	Cffunction. httpmethod
nickname	String	Required. A unique id for the operation that can be used by tools reading the output for further and easier manipulation	Cffunction.name
notes	String	A verbose explanation of the operation behavior.	Cffunction.hint
parameters	[Parameter Object]	Required. The inputs to the operation. If no parameters are needed, an empty array MUST be included.	Details in parameter object
produces	[string]	A list of MIME types this operation can produce.	Cffunction.produces
responseMessages	[Response Message Object]	Lists the possible response statuses that can return from the operation.	New parameter introduced in Cfunction
summary	String	A short summary of what the operation does. For maximum readability in the swagger-ui, this field SHOULD be less than 120 characters.	Cffunction.description

Parameter object schema

The Parameter Object describes a single parameter to be sent in an operation and maps to the parameters field in the Operation Object. This object includes the Data Type Fields in order to describe the type of this parameter. The type field must be used to link to other models.

If type is File, the consumes field must "multipart/form-data", and the paramType must be "form".

Swagger doc Field Name	Type	Description	CF Field
allowMultiple	boolean	Another way to allow multiple values for a "query", "header" or "path" parameter.	Not available in ColdFusion.
description	string	Recommended. A brief description of this parameter.	Cfargument.hint
name	string	Required. The unique name for the parameter.	Cfargument.name
paramType	string	Required. The type of the parameter. The value MUST be one of these values: "path", "query", "body","header", "form" Note: As per spec swagger dosen’t support "Cookie", "Matrix" paramtype which we have in ColdFusion	Cfargument. restargsource
required	boolean	A flag to note whether this parameter is mandatory.	Cfargument.required

CFC/Swagger/Java types comparison

CFC	Swagger	Java	Additional information
string	string	string
uuid	string	string
guid	string	string
query	custom model	coldfusion.xml.rpc.DocumentQueryBean
void	void		for argument map to "body"
numeric	number(format double)	Double
boolean	boolean	boolean
date	string(format date)	java.util.Calendar
any	object	java.lang.Object
array	array of objects	java.lang.Object[]
binary	??	byte[]
struct	custom model	java.util.Map
xml	string	org.w3c.dom.Documents