Custom verbs or operations in REST API

- 1 minutes read - 174 words

Standard REST API has limited verbs if using http verbs. However in reality and many business contexts, they are not enough. In the past, many options are proposed. Today I found another option in FHIR. It might be helful to put them here for comparison.

Control data in request

In stackoverflow What to do when you need more verbs in REST, cheeso gave the answer below. It is like the way json-rpc, not well-specified version. it is not in the style consistent with other verbs.

{ actions: [ {action:"modify", data: {...} }, { action:"approve"} ] }

Verbs or opertions at the end of resource endpoints:

POST http://api.example.com/resourceA/1/customerVerb

Examples:

  1. microsoft

  2. BIAN

Verb or opertions at the end of resource endpoints: prefix verbs with $

POST http://fhir.someserver.org/fhir/Patient/1/$everything

Examples: . fhir

Verb or opertions at the end of resource path, seperated with resource id by colon

POST https://service.name/v1/some/resource/name:customVerb

google gives the reason to use : instead of / to separate the custom verb from the resource name is to support arbitrary paths. It has a good point.

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