API - An application programming interface is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build such a connection or interface is called an API specification [wikipedia].
It's a popular resource for developers in tapping external databases. A staple of every web application consumables. It may sound high-tech. But, the application is a very foundational and with the right approach and basic database knowledge, it is a very powerful tool.
API is most of the time offered for free or premium to developers. Depending on the application and level of data exposure, sometimes this is very expensive. But, for hobbyist and early stage learners. There's ready platform we can take advantage and host your own API.
Here comes Google Sheets
Google sheets it's not just a spreadsheet. Just take off your mind on the Microsoft Suite comparison. Google Apps offers great flexibility in terms of customizing your sheets application. In this article I will show how you make use of sheets as database for your API.
In this application, I will use my existing API integration with NASA API on Mars rover weather collection in Mars. This will not cover the process where I tap the Mars Weather API and pulling them into a spreadsheet. Please see Mars Weather and how to fetch the data for understanding how I was able to pull the resources automatically.
Manifest - available api syntax, definition and URLs [ https://script.googleusercontent.com/macros/echo?user_content_key=Aqvh_KWEIkA2y72sJUDkCq3hU0qyXQJnj2MY29elW17YkqH_9WqrLKEd2A_dpFBZCGVVXo3_52JBGkEeehzmavQ-ppmUFbCam5_BxDlH2jW0nuo2oDemN9CCS2h10ox_1xSncGQajx_ryfhECjZEnNqjJ-H5eu9M7hqa9rZt3J7OQe700Q-3vo4cEmcA_c3tBQ5jxh7l-ylMvMB8kT3jmtDBYm40MhAYFuROh1Y-nIh_GIAPxO1ID8oZHxDdzmO3C_sCiQ09SOE&lib=MW1B9XzBuEwJYul5IBb74tZFLmJLFTjNj]
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