How you can use Spring Boot to interact with the Instagram API

May 30, 2023 Angad Jha 0 Comments 8:02 pm

Introduction: In this blog post, we will walk through a practical coding example, of how to interact with Instagram API using Spring boot
Let’s Set Up Project:

Create a new Spring Boot project using your preferred IDE or the Spring Initializr.
Add the necessary dependencies to your project’s pom.xml file:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-oauth2-client</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Configure Application Properties:

In the application.properties file, add the following Instagram API credentials:

spring.security.oauth2.client.registration.instagram.client-id=your-client-id
spring.security.oauth2.client.registration.instagram.client-secret=your-client-secret
spring.security.oauth2.client.registration.instagram.scope=user_profile,user_media

Create InstagramController:

Create a new Java class, InstagramController, to handle Instagram API interactions:

import org.springframework.security.oauth2.client.authentication.OAuth2AuthenticationToken;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class InstagramController {

    @GetMapping("/instagram/profile")
    public String getInstagramProfile(OAuth2AuthenticationToken authentication) {
        // Retrieve the access token from the authentication object
        String accessToken = authentication.getAccessToken().getTokenValue();
        
        // Make API calls to retrieve Instagram user profile data
        // You can use a HTTP client library like RestTemplate or WebClient
        // to interact with the Instagram API endpoints using the access token
        
        // Return the user profile information
        return "Instagram Profile";
    }
}

Run the Application:
- Start your Spring Boot application, and it will run on a default port (e.g., 8080).
Authenticate with Instagram:
- Navigate to the following URL in your browser to initiate the authentication process:

http://localhost:8080/login/oauth2/code/instagram

You will be redirected to Instagram’s authorization page. Log in and authorize your application.
After successful authentication, you will be redirected back to your application.

http://localhost:8080/instagram/profile

The getInstagramProfile() method in the InstagramController will be called, and you can add logic to retrieve and process the user’s Instagram profile information using the provided access token.

Remember to replace 'your-client-id' and 'your-client-secret' in the application.properties file with your actual Instagram API credentials.

Note: This example assumes you have registered your application with Instagram and obtained the necessary client credentials. Make sure to familiarize yourself with Instagram’s API documentation to understand the available endpoints and how to interact with them using the access token.