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Fredrick Emmanuel
Fredrick Emmanuel

Posted on • Originally published at strapi.io

Mastering API Data Validation in Strapi: A Practical Guide

Validating the data received from an API request is a critical aspect to consider when building robust and scalable applications. API (Application Programming Interface) acts as an intermediary that enables data to be shared between various software applications. Certifying the data shared through APIs is important as it handles errors and guarantees data integrity and consistency. This tutorial demonstrates the need for API data validation by building a blog application.

What is API data validation?

API data validation is a way of verifying that the data being exchanged meets the laid down criteria. To explain further, the purpose of API data validation is to confirm that the data sent is in the proper format and that the responses received are as expected.

It is often implemented using various validation libraries and frameworks like Joi, Yup, AJV, and https://www.npmjs.com/package/class-validator, which provide proper ways to define validation rules and handle validation errors.

Importance of API data validation

In software development, data validation plays a crucial role and we will discuss its key importance in this section.

  • Prevents errors: By rigorously inspecting the data sent and the responses received, API data validation drastically reduces the amount of errors in the software.
  • Protects against malicious attacks: Data validation ensures that the data received adheres to the outlined guidelines, thus protecting the application. The risk of exploitation is reduced by rejecting malicious data that could harm the application.
  • Enhances long-lasting performance: Preventing errors and safeguarding against malicious attacks, API data validation enhances the application's performance and guarantees a durable application. The pivotal role of API data validation in software development makes its importance obvious.

Link to the full article: Mastering API Data Validation in Strapi: A Practical Guide

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