Recognize and interpret essential integration concepts and terminology20% of the exam
REST, SOAP, AsyncAPI and GraphQL API styles
How to classify an API from its clues: REST resources and HTTP methods, SOAP's WSDL and XML envelope, GraphQL's single endpoint with client-chosen fields, and event-driven APIs described with AsyncAPI events, channels and transports, plus when asynchronous beats synchronous.
Identify and classify RESTful, SOAP, AsyncAPI, and GraphQL APIs.
~6 min read · 4 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Classify an API as REST, SOAP, GraphQL or event-driven (AsyncAPI) from clues such as WSDL, a single query endpoint or subscribers.
- Place SOAP and GraphQL in MuleSoft's RPC family and explain how that differs from REST.
- Describe AsyncAPI's three layers (events, channels, transport) and where AsyncAPI specs are authored.
- Choose between a synchronous and an asynchronous API for a requirement.
Key terms:
- SOAP web service: a web service that exchanges XML envelopes under strict protocols, described by a WSDL.
- WSDL: the definition that describes a SOAP backend's operations.
- GraphQL: a query language for APIs that offers one endpoint across data sources and returns only requested fields.
- Event-driven API: an API whose response is triggered by an event rather than a consumer's call.
- AsyncAPI: an open, technology-agnostic language that describes messaging interfaces.
Key facts
RPC-style technologies
- Detail
- SOAP, GraphQL and gRPC
RPC drawback
- Detail
- Protocol-agnostic, so it loses native features such as caching
SOAP proxy requirement
- Detail
- A WSDL definition of the backend service
SOAP validator always checks
- Detail
- Valid SOAP action and valid SOAP envelope
SOAP transports
- Detail
- HTTP, and also JMS, FTP or SMTP
GraphQL origin
- Detail
- Facebook, open-sourced 2015, GraphQL Foundation
AsyncAPI layers
- Detail
- Events, channels, transport
Async result delivery
- Detail
- Polling, webhook or WebSockets
Sources for this section (6)
- Types of APIswww.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- SOAP proxiesdocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Examine APIstrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- What is GraphQLwww.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- AsyncAPI specsdocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Async APIswww.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Why does MuleSoft say RPC-style APIs tighten coupling between consumers and providers?
- When the SOAP action in an inbound request is empty, how does the SOAP proxy find the operation?
- Why does GraphQL make versioning simpler than
/v1/-style endpoints? - How do you start a new AsyncAPI specification in Design Center?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the MuleSoft Integration Foundations pack
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