Metamolecular Products Blog

We'll soon be unveiling big changes to the Chemcaster Web API aimed at promoting long-term stability while at the same time offering flexibility with future improvements.

The most obvious change will be the use of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as the encoding system. This simple, lightweight, and readable notation is an increasingly popular alternative to XML, and is supported by nearly every modern programming language.

Another important change will be full implementation of a RESTful, hypertext-driven API, which will replace the existing REST-RPC hybrid. One practical consequence is that the URL templates documented in the existing API will no longer be used. Instead, the information needed to access additional resources from any point in the system will be encoded by the server itself using hypertext. Rather than working as a map, the new API will work more like a GPS.

Finally, to improve Chemcaster's ease-of-use, we'll be introducing a set of open source language-specific APIs. The first, written in Ruby, is available through its public GitHub repository. This is an early version and subject to change; but it accurately reflects the direction the new API will be taking.

Balancing the opposing needs of flexibility and stability is never easy, and this makes developing APIs particularly difficult. With these changes to the Chemcaster API, we hope to offer a system that can be useful both for today and tomorrow.

Chemcaster is the cheminformatics Web services platform optimized for rapid creation of chemistry-focussed websites. It supports compound registration, exact- and substructure search, and dynamic 2D structure image creation, both through a browser-based administrative interface and a Web API.

We're looking for developers interested in testing Chemcaster with their next project. If the idea of streamlining the creation of your chemistry-focused website sounds interesting, please consider requesting an invitation to create an account.