Understanding REST

As mentioned in the introduction, REST is a type of web service that leverages HTTP(S) protocols. It is a great integration method because it is easy to implement and has a lot of flexibility. While working with REST, clients can make various types of calls, including the following:

• Get: This is the equivalent of a read request or a query request with the intention of returning one or more records.
• Post: A client would submit a post request to create a record or records.
• Put: This call is used to update or replace a record or records in the target application.
• Delete: This call would be used by a client to, you guessed it, delete a record or records. (Use caution when allowing this method.)

Clients can also request the response to their call to be in a variety of formats, such as these:

• XML: eXtensible Markup Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML
• JSON: JavaScript Object Notation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON
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