Alma REST API Ruby Library

This library provides wrapper functions to call the Alma REST API.

Installation

gem install alma_rest_api or in Gemfile gem 'alma_rest_api'

Configuration

alma_rest_api_init.rb in config/initializers

AlmaRestApi.configure do |config|
  config.api_key = "l7xx..."
  config.api_path = "https://api-eu.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/almaws/v1"
  config.format = :"application/xml"
end

OR via environment variables:

• ALMA_API_KEY
• ALMA_API_PATH (default https://api-na.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/almaws/v1)
• ALMA_FORMAT (default :json)

Usage

irb

$ irb
irb(main):001:0> require 'alma_rest_api'
=> true
irb(main):002:0> AlmaRestApi.configuration.api_key="l7xx......"
=> "l7xx......"
irb(main):003:0> AlmaRestApi.get "/users/joshw?view=brief"
=> {"record_type"=>{"value"=>"PUBLIC", "desc"=>"Public"}, "primary_id"=>"joshw", "first_name"=>"Josh", ... }

Rails

controller

require 'alma_rest_api'
  def show
    item = AlmaRestApi.get "/items?item_barcode=#{params[:id]}"
    respond_to do |format|
      format.json { render json: item }
    end
  end

  def update
    begin
      item = AlmaRestApi.put params[:link], params.slice(:item_data)
      render json: item
    rescue => e
      render json: { "error" => e.message }, :status => :bad_request
    end
  end  

XML Usage

XML is the preferable format for APIs which work with MARCXML. The library supports working with XML using the Nokogiri library. For example, a BIB record can be retrieved and updated as follows:

AlmaRestApi.configuration.format = :'application/xml'
bib = AlmaRestApi.get '/bibs/991395470000541'
if title = bib.at("/bib/record/datafield[@tag='245']/subfield[@code='a']")
  title.content = "My new title"
  AlmaRestApi.put '/bibs/991395470000541', bib
end