REST API Endpoints

The Social-Connect project utilizes a centralized networking layer to interact with a RESTful backend service. This system facilitates user social interactions, such as following and unfollowing other accounts, by communicating with a versioned API.

The architecture is built around a singleton UserService that abstracts the underlying network complexity provided by APIClient. Authentication is handled automatically via a secure token storage mechanism, ensuring that all outgoing requests to protected endpoints include the necessary credentials.

API Architecture and Infrastructure

The networking infrastructure is anchored by the APIClient class, which defines the base URL and standard request configurations.

Network Configuration

The system is configured to communicate with the following base environment:

• Base URL: https://api.socialconnect.com/v1/
• Protocol: HTTPS
• Content-Type: application/json

Sources: APIClient.swift:4-5

Authentication Mechanism

Requests are authenticated using a Bearer token strategy. The APIClient attempts to retrieve an authToken from the KeychainManager before executing a request. If found, it is added to the Authorization HTTP header.

The diagram above illustrates how the APIClient manages authorization headers during the request lifecycle.
Sources: APIClient.swift:15-18, KeychainManager.swift:10-21

Endpoint Definitions

The following table details the REST endpoints currently implemented via the UserService:

Sources: UserService.swift:8-25

User Management Logic

When an endpoint is successfully called, the system triggers local state updates. Specifically, a NotificationCenter broadcast is sent to notify the application of follow status changes.

This sequence shows the flow from a service call to the eventual local notification upon success.
Sources: UserService.swift:11-14, APIClient.swift:21-34

External Triggers and Deep Linking

API actions can be triggered externally via the DeepLinkHandler. The application handles specific URL schemes to perform automated API requests.

Deep Link to API Mapping

The following logic maps incoming deep link hosts to API service calls:

• Host: follow -> Triggers UserService.followUser using the userId query parameter.
• Host: profile -> Navigates to the user profile.

Implementation Detail: Follow Deep Link

    private func handleFollowDeepLink(_ components: URLComponents) -> Bool {
        guard let userId = components.queryItems?.first(where: { $0.name == "userId" })?.value else {
            return false
        }
        
        // Follow the user
        userService.followUser(userId: userId)
        return true
    }

Sources: DeepLinkHandler.swift:37-45

Conclusion

The REST API integration in Social-Connect is a structured pipeline starting from AppDelegate or internal services, flowing through a centralized UserService, and executed by a secure APIClient. This design ensures that authentication and base configurations are handled consistently across all social interaction endpoints.