RESTaurant

RESTaurant is an upcoming native REST client written in JavaFX. It is currently in the initial stages of development.

Why RESTaurant?

• Unlike other REST clients like Postman and Insomnia, RESTaurant is a native application written in Java. Thus, it is significantly lighter on resources and more responsive than the Electron-based options. The goal with RESTaurant is to provide pretty much the same level of functionality as the formerly mentioned options, but in a lighter, native but equally slick package. It is a big and slightly arrogant bet, but then I don't think anyone other than me would use this! So heck, at least I'll learnt a lot. Not bad for a Comp Sci student, eh?
• In all of my projects, design is of paramount importance. And RESTaurant is no exception. With a gorgeous, flat design and a neutral color scheme, RESTaurant is a pleasure to look at and to work with. I want you to want to use it!
• RESTaurant is powered by Jersey, the robust and powerful Java library to build and consume RESTful web services.

Planned features

• Ability to make requests with the common HTTP methods. (duh)
• Syntax highlighting: I had tried using RichTextFX for my text editor, Ballad, and failed. And I really don't wish to embed an online editor like Ace into RESTaurant. So, for the time being, I'm gonna use JavaFX's inbuilt TextArea which doesn't offer syntax highlighting.
• History tab, for quickly looking at your request history. 🕒
• API Authentication: This is of course a primary feature of any REST client, but currently, not something I've done or used before. So I will need some time to learn this stuff.
• Theming support with JavaFX CSS. 🌈
• Multi-tab layout to unleash your internal REST wizard!

That's all the core stuff that I can think of at the moment. Will keep updating this as we go.

Not-so-certain features

• Suggestions as you type in the address field.
• Postman has this really cool feature wherein it can create a mock server. Maybe do that.

Features currently live

• GET, POST, PUT and DELETE requests.
• Adding request headers, query parameters and the request body (raw, octet-stream, URL-encoded or form-data)
• Response details (HTTP status code, response time, response size)
• Custom themes! Changing themes needs a manual edit to the settings.json file. This will be properly integrated into a Settings menu later.
• Multi-tab layout. I'm battling with JavaFX to allow me to add a simple '+' button for adding a new tab. So far, not successful. However, you can use the Ctrl+T keyboard shortcut.
• History tab! All the requests you ever made are now shown to the left of the app.
• RESTaurant now maintains its state between sessions so you don't lose your work.

Releases

I mean, it's open-source. You can build yourself a 'release' right now!

Jokes aside, I'm planning to release an alpha once the GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods are up and running. I'll also add the aforementioned history tab as a bonus, maybe!

Alpha ETA: March 2018 (hopefully)

Aaaand, that's it! I don't think anyone will make it down here. But if you did, you're awesome and thanks! Cheers!