About Cloud Endpoints Frameworks for Java

This page describes the libraries and tools and provides other information to help you get started using Endpoints Frameworks for Java. See About Endpoints Frameworks for an architectural overview of Endpoints Frameworks.

Libraries and tools

Cloud Endpoints Frameworks for the App Engine standard environment provides the following libraries and tools:

• The Endpoints Frameworks is available in the Maven Central Repository in the group com.google.endpoints. The base required .jar file is in the endpoints-framework artifact. See API Javadoc for details.
• The endpoints command-line tool (for Linux), or endpoints.cmd (for Windows) that you can use to generate client library bundles and Discovery documents, which allow Android apps and other types of client applications to access your API.
• The Endpoints Frameworks Maven plugin and the Endpoints Frameworks Gradle plugin, which you use to generate the following:
  • Client library bundles and Discovery documents.
  • OpenAPI configuration files, which you use if you want API management functionality such as monitoring, logging, and API key validation.

Note: Because the API backend is an App Engine application, developers can use services and features available in the App Engine standard environment, such as Datastore , Cloud Storage , Mail , Url fetch , Task queues , and so forth. And finally, by using App Engine for the backend, developers are freed from system admin work, load balancing, scaling, and server maintenance.

Requirements

To use Endpoints Frameworks, follow the process shown in the Tutorial.

You need to know how to develop the client of your choice, such as JavaScript web clients, or mobile clients, such as Android.

Note: You cannot call a Cloud Endpoints API directly from a push task queue or a cron job.

Development process

The general workflow for developing an application using Endpoints Frameworks is:

1. Create your API project, and then write your API code.
2. Annotate your API, so classes and client libraries are generated from it.
3. Generate the OpenAPI configuration file and deploy it as described in the Tutorial.
4. Optionally, test your API locally.
5. Deploy the API.
6. Generate the client library.
7. Write your client application by using the client library when making calls to the API.

Getting started

To get started, follow the Tutorial to configure, deploy, and send requests to a sample API. Then come back to this section for the information you need to configure, deploy, and test your own API.

Migrating from Endpoints version 1.0

If you've already developed an API backend using the previous version of Endpoints, follow the Migration guide to move your app to Endpoints version 2.0.