A RESTful Web API (also called a RESTful Web Service) is a Web API implemented using the HTTP protocol and REST principles. It is a collection of resources, with four defined aspects:
- The base URI for the Web API, such as httpshttp://eg.com/resources/.
- The Internet media type of the data supported by the Web API. This is often JSON but can be any other valid Internet media type provided that it is a valid hypertext standard.
- The set of operations supported by the Web API using HTTP methods (e.g., GET, PUT, POST, or DELETE).
- The API must be hypertext driven.
...
| Resource | GET | PUT | POST | DELETE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collection URI such as http://eg.com/resources/ | List the URIs and perhaps other details of the collection's members. | Replace the entire collection with another collection. | Create a new entry in the collection. The new entry's URI is assigned automatically and is usually returned by the operation. | Delete the entire collection. |
| Element URI such as httpshttp://eg.com/resources/item7 | Retrieve a representation of the addressed member of the collection, expressed in an appropriate Internet media type. | Replace the addressed member of the collection, or if it doesn't exist, create it. | Not generally used. Treat the addressed member as a collection in its own right and create a new entry in it. | Delete the addressed member of the collection. |
The PUT and DELETE methods are idempotent methods. The GET method is a safe method (or nullipotent), meaning that calling it produces no side-effects.
Unlike SOAP-based Web services, there is no standard for RESTful Web APIs. This is because REST is an architectural style, unlike SOAP, which is a protocol. Even though REST is not a standard, a RESTful implementation such as the IzoT REST API can use standards like HTTP, URI, and XML.
...