Add support for newer radios (newer JSON-API)

[kimbtech]

Newer radios use a JSON-based API of Airable ¹, which is currently not supported by Radio-API. Hence, only older radios, using the XML-based API, are working with Radio-API.

There are at least three implementations of the newer API ²,³,⁴ , all of them seem to be more basic/ less rich on features than Radio-API. Hence, I think it would be great if Radio-API could get support for the newer JSON-based API (while of course keeping support for the older XML-based API).

Radio-API with support for XML and JSON would allow radios of different generations to connect to one Radio-API server and users could manage all via the same Radio-API interface.

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Below partly based on ⁵

The Radio-API XML implementation should be easy to adopt to different output formats like JSON (the XML creation is fully carried at one place by Output.php and if we are lucky, we only need to integrate and write one similar JSON output class).

However, implementing an unofficial API replacement requires tons of testing, as there is no known specification to follow. It is an explorative journey.

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Summarized, I would love to have JSON support in Radio-API. I would do the biggest part of the implementation work, but right now I am not able to do the testing side and without testing it is not possible.

Footnotes

1. airable.wifiradiofrontier.com ↩

2. https://github.com/seife/frontier-airable ↩

3. https://github.com/rhaamo/pyrable ↩

4. https://github.com/Half-Shot/fairable ↩

5. https://github.com/KIMB-technologies/Radio-API/discussions/69 ↩

[Demel75]

Hey Kimbtech,
I am very interessted in this. What do you need for testing? Help or Hardware?
Kind regards

[kimbtech]

Hi,

I tried to reproduce the requests logged in fairable/docs/capture.md, but I seems that the Airable server checks the authorization header (Authorization: <a-token>) and I have no idea about the token format used (I assume the tokens are not checked too carefully, but more being some type of per radio identification and the server requires the format to be valid.)
Radio-API will need to use the tokens for identifying radios and linking them to the accounts on the server.

In general, would be possible for me to implement some first version of a JSON output in a beta version of Radio-API. Afterwards, testers for the beta-version would be needed, i.e., persons with a JSON-based radio and willing to run the beta-version, testing the features, and reporting all errors to me (it may/ will take a couple of iterations before it fully works).

Otherwise, I am open to buy a radio making use of the JSON-based API as long as it is not too expensive. But I do not really know which radios use which type of API. So, if you have any suggestions of a cheaper radio using the JSON-based API, let me know (European, German market). Having a radio at hand would be the most easy way to add JSON output to Radio-API.

[Demel75]

I first saw the "new" json-api with this radio above. It was quiet cheap in kleinanzeigen.de

[kimbtech]

Hi,
thanks, the Majority Touro seems to be a good choice. I will buy one soon and then start to integrate a JSON output to Radio-API.