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HTTP Verbs Overview

HTTP GET Verb

  • GET - retrieve data
  • GET verbs can be issued by a browser
    • click on link
    • visit a site
  • GET http://compendiumdev.co.uk/apps/api/mock/reflect
  • Important Headers
    • User-Agent - tells server app type
    • Accept - what format response you prefer

HTTP GET Verb Example

curl http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/heartbeat ^
-H "accept: application/xml" ^
--proxy 127.0.0.1:8888

GET http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/heartbeat HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.39.0
Host: localhost:4567
Connection: Keep-Alive
accept: application/xml

Common HTTP Status codes in response to a GET

  • 200 - OK, found the url, returned contents
  • 301, 307, 308 - content has moved, new url in location header
  • 404 - url not found
  • 401 - you need to give me authorisation details see WWW-Authenticate header
  • 403 - url probably exists but you are not allowed to access it

HTTP POST Verb

  • POST amend/create from partial information

  • send a 'body' format of content in the 'content-type' header

  • usually used to create or amend data

  • browser will usually send a POST request when submitting a form

HTTP POST Verb Send Example

curl -X POST http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists ^
-H "accept: application/xml" ^
-H content-type:application/json ^
-H "Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==" ^
-d "{title:'a list title'}" ^
--proxy 127.0.0.1:8888

HTTP POST Verb Request Example

POST http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.39.0
Host: localhost:4567
Connection: Keep-Alive
accept: application/json
content-type: application/json
Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==
Content-Length: 22

{title:'a list title'}

HTTP POST Verb Response Example

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:11:12 GMT
Content-Type: application/json
Location: /lists/f8134dd6-a573-4cf5-a6c6-9d556118ed0b
Server: Jetty(9.4.4.v20170414)
Content-Length: 171

{"lists":[{
"guid":"f8134dd6-a573-4cf5-a6c6-9d556118ed0b",
"title":"a list title",
"description":"",
"createdDate":"2017-08-17-13-11-12",
"amendedDate":"2017-08-17-13-11-12"}]}

Common HTTP Status codes in response to a POST

  • 200 - OK, did whatever I was supposed to
  • 201 - OK created new items
  • 202 - OK, I'll do that later
  • 204 - OK, I have no more information to give you
  • 400 - what? that request made no sense
  • 404 - I can't post to that url it is not found
  • 401 - need authorisation see WWW-Authenticate header
  • 403 - url probably exists but you are not allowed to access it
  • 409 - can't do that, already exists
  • 500 - your request made me crash

HTTP PUT Verb

  • PUT - create or replace from full information

Full information means it should be idempotent - send it again and get exactly the same request

Demo

HTTP PUT Send Example

curl -X PUT http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists ^
-H "Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==" ^
--proxy 127.0.0.1:8888 ^
-d @createlistwithput.txt

where createlistwithput.txt file contains

{"title":"title added with put",
"description":"list description",
"guid": "guidcreatedwithput201708171440",
"createdDate": "2017-08-17-14-40-34",
"amendedDate": "2017-08-17-14-40-34"}

HTTP PUT Request Example

PUT http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.39.0
Host: localhost:4567
Accept: */*
Connection: Keep-Alive
Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==
Content-Length: 180
Content-Type: application/json

{"title":"title added with put",
"description":"list description",
"guid": "guidcreatedwithput201708171440",
"createdDate": "2017-08-17-14-40-34",
"amendedDate": "2017-08-17-14-40-34"}

HTTP PUT Response Example

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2017 13:41:46 GMT
Content-Type: application/json
Server: Jetty(9.4.4.v20170414)
Content-Length: 0

HTTP DELETE Verb

Demo

HTTP DELETE Send Example

curl -X DELETE http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists/{guid} ^
-H "Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ=" ^
--proxy 127.0.0.1:8888

HTTP DELETE Request Example

DELETE http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists/{guid} HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.39.0
Host: localhost:4567
Accept: */*
Connection: Keep-Alive
Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ=

HTTP DELETE Response Example

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:20:35 GMT
Content-Type: application/json
Server: Jetty(9.4.4.v20170414)

Common HTTP Status codes in response to a DELETE

  • 200 - OK, did whatever I was supposed to
  • 202 - OK, I'll do that later
  • 204 - OK, I have no more information to give you
  • 404 - I can't post to that url it is not found
  • 401 - you need to give me authorisation details see WWW-Authenticate header
  • 403 - url probably exists but you are not allowed to access it
  • 500 - your request made me crash

HTTP OPTIONS Verb

  • OPTIONS - shows the verbs available on this url
  • returns an Allow header describing the allowed HTTP Verbs

HTTP OPTIONS Send Example

curl -X OPTIONS http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists ^
--proxy 127.0.0.1:8888

Demo

HTTP OPTIONS Request Example

OPTIONS http://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/lists HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.39.0
Host: localhost:4567
Accept: */*
Connection: Keep-Alive

HTTP OPTIONS Response Example

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:24:39 GMT
Allow: GET, POST, PUT
Content-Type: text/html;charset=utf-8
Server: Jetty(9.4.4.v20170414)
Content-Length: 0

Common HTTP Status codes in response to a OPTIONS

  • 200 - OK, did whatever I was supposed to
  • 404 - I can't post to that url it is not found

 

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