Flask-Smorest (which incorporates Marshmallow) -- unless there are objections, I'll be moving forward with this option. The other libraries are no longer maintained and, although Flask-Smorest doesn't have the greatest documentation, I've found some resources that allow me to make sense of it.
Other information:
https://www.imaginarycloud.com/blog/flask-python/
| Status | Subtype | Assigned | Task | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolved | NicoleLBee | T324507 Develop a web app for editing Toolhub records | |||
| Resolved | NicoleLBee | T327077 [backend] Carry out initial project setup for the backend | |||
| Resolved | NicoleLBee | T327081 [backend] Investigate API support options |
After some preliminary investigation, it looks like flask-RESTX has the advantage in that it incorporates Swagger automatically, which will allow for auto-generation of the API documentation, whereas flask-RESTful would require us to install additional packages (e.g., Flasgger).
It also appears that flask-RESTful is no longer actively maintained, which is definitely a strike against it.
However, more digging has revealed that flask-RESTX itself is also only minimally maintained, and there seem to be some ongoing issues around data models and request parsing that are unlikely to be resolved. (See Flask-RESTX Models Re-design.
Flask-RESTX's own documentation admits that there are other packages that do things better (e.g., marshmallow); see the warning at the top of the Request Parsing documentation.
I have uncovered another library, flask-smorest, which does everything that RESTX does and also uses marshmallow and appears to be maintained; as far as I can gather, it seems to be the most au courant of the options.
Possibly stupid question, though: do we need an API library at all?
Not really, but we do need the things that API libraries (ideally) offer:
There's a pretty insightful discussion of different alternatives and pros/cons here: https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/alternatives/
Thank you, that link was very useful. The number of alternatives in this space makes my head spin. It's a shame that we can't just use FastAPI but such is life.
I've found some great resources to help me get my head around flask-smorest and marshmallow, so unless there are objections I'm going to go ahead with that.