API may stand for Application *Programming* Interface, but humans have to be able to read the APIs, too; someone has to do the programming. Django REST Framework supports generating human-friendly HTML output for each resource when the `HTML` format is requested. These pages allow for easy browsing of resources, as well as forms for submitting data to the resources using `POST`, `PUT`, and `DELETE`.
## URLs
If you include fully-qualified URLs in your resource output, they will be 'urlized' and made clickable for easy browsing by humans. The `djangorestframework` package includes a [`reverse`](../api-guide/reverse.md) helper for this purpose.
## Formats
By default, the API will return the format specified by the headers, which in the case of the browser is HTML. The format can be specified using `?format=` in the request, so you can look at the raw JSON response in a browser by adding `?format=json` to the URL. There are helpful extensions for viewing JSON in [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jsonview/) and [Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chklaanhfefbnpoihckbnefhakgolnmc).
## Customizing
To customize the look-and-feel, create a template called `api.html` and add it to your project, eg: `templates/djangorestframework/api.html`, that extends the `djangorestframework/base.html` template.
The included browsable API template is built with [Bootstrap (2.1.1)](http://getbootstrap.com), making it easy to customize the look-and-feel.
### Theme
To replace the theme wholesale, add a `bootstrap_theme` block to your `api.html` and insert a `link` to the desired Bootstrap theme css file. This will completely replace the included theme.
A suitable replacement theme can be generated using Bootstrap's [Customize Tool](http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/customize.html#variables). Also, there are pre-made themes available at [Bootswatch](http://bootswatch.com/), which are even hosted by [Bootstrap CDN](http://www.bootstrapcdn.com/). To use any of the Bootswatch themes, simply download the theme's `bootstrap.min.css` file, add it to your project, and replace the default one as described above.
You can also change the navbar variant, which by default is `navbar-inverse`, using the `bootstrap_navbar_variant` block. The empty `{% block bootstrap_navbar_variant %}{% endblock %}` will use the original Bootstrap navbar style.
For more specific CSS tweaks, use the `extra_style` block instead.
### Blocks
All of the blocks available in the browsable API base template that can be used in your `api.html`.
*`blockbots` - `<meta>` tag that blocks crawlers
*`bodyclass` - (empty) class attribute for the `<body>`
*`bootstrap_theme` - CSS for the Bootstrap theme
*`bootstrap_navbar_variant` - CSS class for the navbar
*`branding` - section of the navbar, see [Bootstrap components](http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/components.html#navbar)
*`breadcrumbs` - Links showing resource nesting, allowing the user to go back up the resources. It's recommended to preserve these, but they can be overridden using the breadcrumbs block.
*`extrastyle` - (empty) extra CSS for the page
*`extrahead` - (empty) extra markup for the page `<head>`
*`footer` - Any copyright notices or similar footer materials can go here (by default right-aligned)
*`global_heading` - (empty) Use to insert content below the header but before the breadcrumbs.
*`title` - title of the page
*`userlinks` - This is a list of links on the right of the header, by default containing login/logout links. To add links instead of replace, use {{ block.super }} to preserve the authentication links.
#### Components
All of the [Bootstrap components](http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/components.html) are available.
##### Tooltips
The browsable API makes use of the Bootstrap tooltips component. Any element with the `js-tooltip` class and a `title` attribute has that title content displayed in a tooltip on hover after a 1000ms delay.
### Advanced Customization
#### Context
The context that's available to the template:
*`allowed_methods` : A list of methods allowed by the resource
*`api_settings` : The API settings
*`available_formats` : A list of formats allowed by the resource
*`breadcrumblist` : The list of links following the chain of nested resources
*`content` : The content of the API response
*`description` : The description of the resource, generated from its docstring
*`name` : The name of the resource
*`post_form` : A form instance for use by the POST form (if allowed)
*`put_form` : A form instance for use by the PUT form (if allowed)
For more advanced customization, such as not having a Bootstrap basis or tighter integration with the rest of your site, you can simply choose not to have `api.html` extend `base.html`. Then the page content and capabilities are entirely up to you.
@@ -133,7 +133,12 @@ Now go and open the API in a web browser, by visiting [http://127.0.0.1:8000/][3
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@@ -133,7 +133,12 @@ Now go and open the API in a web browser, by visiting [http://127.0.0.1:8000/][3
**Note: Right now the Browseable API only works with the CBV's. Need to fix that.**
**Note: Right now the Browseable API only works with the CBV's. Need to fix that.**
**TODO: Describe browseable API awesomeness**
### Browsability
Because the API chooses a return format based on what the client asks for, it will, by default, return an HTML-formatted representation of the resource when that resource is requested by a browser. This allows for the API to be easily browsable and usable by humans.
See the [browsable api][4] topic for more information about the browsable API feature and how to customize it.
## What's next?
## What's next?
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@@ -142,4 +147,5 @@ In [tutorial part 3][4], we'll start using class based views, and see how generi
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@@ -142,4 +147,5 @@ In [tutorial part 3][4], we'll start using class based views, and see how generi
