![]() ![]() The action should be indicated by the HTTP request method that we’re making. For instance, some like ‘get’ and some like ‘retrieve’, so it’s just better to let the HTTP GET verb tell us what and endpoint does. The chosen verbs could vary by the developer’s whim. Having verbs in our API endpoint paths isn’t useful and it makes it unnecessarily long since it doesn’t convey any new information. This is because our HTTP request method already has the verb. Instead, we should use the nouns which represent the entity that the endpoint that we’re retrieving or manipulating as the pathname. We shouldn’t use verbs in our endpoint paths. Use nouns instead of verbs in endpoint paths The method above applies to most other back end frameworks. Set the Content-Type header in the response to application/json charset=utf-8 without any changes. We can use the body-parser middleware to parse the JSON request body, and then we can call the res.json method with the object that we want to return as the JSON response as follows:Ĭonst bodyParser = require('body-parser') Īpp.listen(3000, () => console.log('server started')) īodyParser.json() parses the JSON request body string into a JavaScript object and then assigns it to the req.body object. This example will use the Express back end framework for Node.js. Let’s take a look at an example API that accepts JSON payloads. Many server-side frameworks have this as a built-in feature. We should also make sure that our endpoints return JSON as a response. Then we need to handle file responses and send form data from client to server. The only exception is if we’re trying to send and receive files between client and server. Some HTTP clients look at the Content-Type response header and parse the data according to that format. Many server-side app frameworks set the response header automatically. To make sure that when our REST API app responds with JSON that clients interpret it as such, we should set Content-Type in the response header to application/json after the request is made. It’s by far the most straightforward to do so. But for text and numbers, we don’t need form data to transfer those since-with most frameworks-we can transfer JSON by just getting the data from it directly on the client side. It ends up being a lot of extra work just to do normal data transfer.įorm data is good for sending data, especially if we want to send files. We can’t manipulate this data as easily on the client-side, especially in browsers. XML isn’t widely supported by frameworks without transforming the data ourselves to something that can be used, and that’s usually JSON. ![]() Server-side technologies have libraries that can decode JSON without doing much work. Almost every networked technology can use it: JavaScript has built-in methods to encode and decode JSON either through the Fetch API or another HTTP client. JSON is the standard for transferring data. Accept and respond with JSONĮven though some people think REST should only return hypertext (including Roy Fielding who created the term) REST APIs should accept JSON for request payload and also send responses to JSON. Note: For REST APIs called over the internet, you’ll like want to follow the best practices for REST API authentication. While REST APIs can be accessed through a number of communication protocols, most commonly, they are called over HTTPS, so the guidelines below apply to REST API endpoints that will be called over the internet. Allow filtering, sorting, and paginationĪ REST API is an application programming interface architecture style that conforms to specific architectural constraints, like stateless communication and cacheable data.Handle errors gracefully and return standard error codes.Nesting resources for hierarchical objects.Use nouns instead of verbs in endpoint paths.In this article, we’ll look at how to design REST APIs to be easy to understand for anyone consuming them, future-proof, and secure and fast since they serve data to clients that may be confidential. ![]() If we don’t follow commonly accepted conventions, then we confuse the maintainers of the API and the clients that use them since it’s different from what everyone expects. Otherwise, we create problems for clients that use our APIs, which isn’t pleasant and detracts people from using our API. We have to take into account security, performance, and ease of use for API consumers. Therefore, it’s very important to design REST APIs properly so that we won’t run into problems down the road. They allow various clients including browser apps to communicate with services via the REST API. REST APIs are one of the most common kinds of web interfaces available today. ![]()
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