If you have no life, you might spend your Saturday figuring out a little about Amazon AWS Lambda and API Gateway.
Lambda is a serverless computing platform; you write your code and there's no operating system or anything else to support. Just your code. API Gateway lets you connect lots of things to the rest of the world. The combination lets you build web stuff without a lot of the other stuff, and I wanted to figure out how to make it work. Here is my first working draft of the process. If you want updates, check out my Git Repo.
Building a Proof of Concept Character Generator with AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway
IAM
Lambda
API Gateway
Next steps
Lambda is a serverless computing platform; you write your code and there's no operating system or anything else to support. Just your code. API Gateway lets you connect lots of things to the rest of the world. The combination lets you build web stuff without a lot of the other stuff, and I wanted to figure out how to make it work. Here is my first working draft of the process. If you want updates, check out my Git Repo.
Building a Proof of Concept Character Generator with AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway
This assumes you have an AWS account. Most everything should be available
under the Free tier of services.
To get a free AWS account:
https://aws.amazon.com
"Create an AWS Account"
If you are an educator, U.S. veteran, or student, check out:
https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate
All actions will be done from the AWS management console.
To find a specific service, put the service name in the search bar at the top of the menu bar. Or uses the "Services" drop down on the top left of the menu bar.
Each Section below uses the service name as the main header.
The '->' notation is "then select", so the English sentence
"Select 'Roles', then select 'Create Role' is:
'Roles' -> 'Create role'
The 'ctrl-s' notation is for 'hold down the control key and press the "s" on your keyboard'. This is used to save the code file after an edit.
This also assumes a decent level of "figure it out", either by searching or poking around. I'm just learning it myself, so please don't think I know it all. Heck, I'm surprised I know this much.
under the Free tier of services.
To get a free AWS account:
https://aws.amazon.com
"Create an AWS Account"
If you are an educator, U.S. veteran, or student, check out:
https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate
All actions will be done from the AWS management console.
To find a specific service, put the service name in the search bar at the top of the menu bar. Or uses the "Services" drop down on the top left of the menu bar.
Each Section below uses the service name as the main header.
The '->' notation is "then select", so the English sentence
"Select 'Roles', then select 'Create Role' is:
'Roles' -> 'Create role'
The 'ctrl-s' notation is for 'hold down the control key and press the "s" on your keyboard'. This is used to save the code file after an edit.
This also assumes a decent level of "figure it out", either by searching or poking around. I'm just learning it myself, so please don't think I know it all. Heck, I'm surprised I know this much.
IAM
Do this first, it'll make life a lot easier.
Left menu 'Access Management' -> 'Roles' -> 'Create role'
The 'AWS Service' block is highlighted by default. Under 'Choose a use case', under 'Common use cases', select 'Lambda'.
Click 'Next
ermissions'
Under 'Attach permissions policies', in the 'Filter policies' search bar:
Enter 'AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole', and select the checkbox next to it.
Enter 'AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess', and select the checkbox next to it.
[LH] Not sure if this is needed, but it was on the tutorial.
Click 'Next:Tags'
Click 'Next:Review'
In 'Role name' enter 'chargen', without the quotes.
Click 'Create role'
Left menu 'Access Management' -> 'Roles' -> 'Create role'
The 'AWS Service' block is highlighted by default. Under 'Choose a use case', under 'Common use cases', select 'Lambda'.
Click 'Next
ermissions'Under 'Attach permissions policies', in the 'Filter policies' search bar:
Enter 'AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole', and select the checkbox next to it.
Enter 'AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess', and select the checkbox next to it.
[LH] Not sure if this is needed, but it was on the tutorial.
Click 'Next:Tags'
Click 'Next:Review'
In 'Role name' enter 'chargen', without the quotes.
Click 'Create role'
Lambda
I'm using Python 3.8, one of the semi-default runtimes. Use whatever floats your boat.
On the Lambda dashboard, 'Create function'. For the next page options:
'Author from scratch' # Looks to be the initial default.
Under 'Basic information': 'Function name' is 'chargen',
'Runtime' is 'Python 3.8'
Under 'Permissions', 'Change default execution role',
select 'Use an existing role'
In the 'Existing role' dropdown, select 'chargen'.
Select 'Create function'
This gives you a cool IDE at the bottom, if you like IDEs.
Under 'Code source', select the file 'lambda_function.py'. Right click it -> 'Open'. In the tab to the right, you'll see some basic code.
Remove it. Copy the 'first_code/lambda_function.py' from my repo into your lambda_function.py IDE.
'ctrl-s', then 'Deploy'.
The first time you click 'Test', it will take you to 'Configure test event'.
In 'Event name', enter 'testchargen', then 'Create'.
Select 'Test', and it will give you a new tab, 'Execution results'.
In the 'Response' section, you should see a JSON 'status code' of 200, and a 'body' result. The body should look like the response you returned.
This should work. If it doesn't, click 'Monitor' -> 'Logs' -> 'LogStream' for the most recent log event. On the last log line, click the three dots to the far right, and it should expand the line.
Make note of the 'Copy ARN' button on the function dashboard.
On the Lambda dashboard, 'Create function'. For the next page options:
'Author from scratch' # Looks to be the initial default.
Under 'Basic information': 'Function name' is 'chargen',
'Runtime' is 'Python 3.8'
Under 'Permissions', 'Change default execution role',
select 'Use an existing role'
In the 'Existing role' dropdown, select 'chargen'.
Select 'Create function'
This gives you a cool IDE at the bottom, if you like IDEs.
Under 'Code source', select the file 'lambda_function.py'. Right click it -> 'Open'. In the tab to the right, you'll see some basic code.
Remove it. Copy the 'first_code/lambda_function.py' from my repo into your lambda_function.py IDE.
'ctrl-s', then 'Deploy'.
The first time you click 'Test', it will take you to 'Configure test event'.
In 'Event name', enter 'testchargen', then 'Create'.
Select 'Test', and it will give you a new tab, 'Execution results'.
In the 'Response' section, you should see a JSON 'status code' of 200, and a 'body' result. The body should look like the response you returned.
This should work. If it doesn't, click 'Monitor' -> 'Logs' -> 'LogStream' for the most recent log event. On the last log line, click the three dots to the far right, and it should expand the line.
Make note of the 'Copy ARN' button on the function dashboard.
API Gateway
When you move from Lambda to API Gateway, open it up in a new tab.
You'll need data from the Lambda tab.
Under 'APIs', click 'Create API', then 'HTTP API' -> 'Build'.
On the 'Create an API' page, under 'Integrations', click 'Add integration'.
Choose 'Lambda', and then copy in the ARN from your Lambda function.
In 'API name', put 'chargen', then click 'Next'.
On the 'Configure routes' page, click 'Next'.
On the 'Define stages' page, click 'Next'.
On the 'Review and create' page, click 'Create'.
Click the 'Invoke URL' URL, it won't work.
Add '/chargen' to the URL, it should work.
You'll need data from the Lambda tab.
Under 'APIs', click 'Create API', then 'HTTP API' -> 'Build'.
On the 'Create an API' page, under 'Integrations', click 'Add integration'.
Choose 'Lambda', and then copy in the ARN from your Lambda function.
In 'API name', put 'chargen', then click 'Next'.
On the 'Configure routes' page, click 'Next'.
On the 'Define stages' page, click 'Next'.
On the 'Review and create' page, click 'Create'.
Click the 'Invoke URL' URL, it won't work.
Add '/chargen' to the URL, it should work.
Next steps
You can add that URL as an href tag, or whatever you like. It works on static pages like Github pages.
You may prefer another language, or a more complex character generation system. This just connects some of the dots, and hopefully does so in a way that lets you build your own thing.
I'm going to be extending this with some database support for various names, and whatever else I can think of. The first_code/lambda_function.py should get you going, but my new stuff and changes are in the 'code/' directory.
Engage your creativity and see what happens.
You may prefer another language, or a more complex character generation system. This just connects some of the dots, and hopefully does so in a way that lets you build your own thing.
I'm going to be extending this with some database support for various names, and whatever else I can think of. The first_code/lambda_function.py should get you going, but my new stuff and changes are in the 'code/' directory.
Engage your creativity and see what happens.
