Overview - Using the REST API

The REST API provides programmatic access to data in the system through a RESTful interface. It allows you to interact with entities using simple HTTP requests. The REST API enables you to automate and integrate processes with other systems and services. To get started, you'd need access to the API's authentication details and an understanding of the available endpoints and HTTP methods.

Important: We strongly recommend using SSL to secure communications to and from your product server.

RESTful Services

REST (or Representation State Transfer) is an architectural approach to communicating data between a client and a server. Services that implement REST are known as RESTful services. RESTful APIs use HTTP methods (such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) to perform operations on resources identified by URLs. While REST does not define a standard, RESTful services often share the following characteristics:

• REST services are stateless. Each transaction between the client and server is treated as a completely separate transaction. The client provides all of the information that the server needs to service each request.

• REST services are uniform. Each request consists of the same components: the location of a resource, the action to take on the method, and any additional information necessary to complete the request.

• REST services are scalable. RESTful services can grow to support a large number of components–and methods for interacting with those components–without negatively impacting performance or usability.

A typical REST interaction consists of a request and a response. The product REST API accepts requests and returns responses in JSON format.

The following topics explain how to use the REST API:

• How to Perform Authentication

• Requests, Responses, and Resource Versioning

• Endpoints and Resources

• Pagination

 

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