almarestapi-lib

Alma REST API Node Library

This library makes it easy to call the Ex Libris Alma REST APIs in Node.js.

Installation

npm install almarestapi-lib --save

API Key

The library expects that the API key be available in an environment variable called ALMA_APIKEY. The API host can be optionally stored in an environment variable called ALMA_APIHOST. The defaut is https://api-na.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/almaws/v1.

You can call your script with the API key in the command line, as follows:

ALMA_APIKEY=l7xxabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz node test.js 

Alternatively, the key and/or path can be set using the setOptions method, as follows:

const alma = require('almarestapi-lib');
alma.setOptions('l7xx...');

Usage

To being using the library, require it at the top of your Node file:

var alma = require ('almarestapi-lib');

Async/Await

The library supports usage of async/await. The functions which return a Promise end in the letter 'p', i.e. getp.

var alma = require ('almarestapi-lib');

async function main() {
  try {
    console.log(await alma.getp('/users/joshw?view=brief'));
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('ERROR: ', e.message);
  }
}

main();

Working with JSON

The following functions work with JSON:

Retrieving JSON with getp

await alma.getp('/users/joshw?view=brief');

Updating JSON with putp

var user = await alma.getp('/users/joshw');
user.middle_name = 'Max';
console.log(await alma.putp('/users/joshw', user);

Creating a record with postp

var user = { first_name: 'Josh', last_name: 'Testman', account_type:{value: 'INTERNAL'}};
console.log(await alma.postp('/users', user));

Deleting with deletep

alma.deletep('/users/4101979450000561');

Working with XML

It is preferable to work with XML when calling APIs which relate to BIB records. You can use the XML functions to work with these APIs.

Retrieving a BIB record with getXmlp

var bib = await alma.getXmlp('/bibs/9981140900561');

Updating and creating a BIB record You can use the putXmlp and postXmlp functions to update and create BIB records respectively.

var dom        = require('xmldom').DOMParser;
var xpath      = require('xpath');
const XPATH_TITLE = '/bib/record/datafield[@tag="245"]/subfield[@code="a"]';

var bib = await alma.getXmlp('/bibs/991439870000541');
bib = new dom().parseFromString(bib);
xpath.select(XPATH_TITLE, bib)[0]
  .firstChild.data='History curatorship';
console.log(await alma.putXmlp('/bibs/991439870000541', bib));      

Issues

Feel free to report issues in this repository.