Making an API Request

Request URI

A request URI is in the following format:

{URI-scheme} :// {Endpoint} / {resource-path} ? {query-string}

Although a request URI is included in the request header, most programming languages or frameworks require the request URI to be transmitted separately.

• URI-scheme: Protocol used to transmit requests. All APIs use HTTPS.
• Endpoint: Domain name or IP address of the server bearing the REST service. The endpoint varies between services in different regions. It can be obtained from Regions and Endpoints. For example, the endpoint of IAM in the AP-Singapore region is iam.ap-southeast-3.myhwcloud.com.
• resource-path: Access path of an API for performing a specified operation. Obtain the value from the URI of an API. For example, the resource-path of the API for obtaining a user token is /v3/auth/tokens.
• query-string: Query parameter, which is optional. Ensure that a question mark (?) is included before each query parameter that is in the format of "Parameter name=Parameter value". For example, ? limit=10 indicates that a maximum of 10 data records will be displayed.

For example, to obtain an IAM token in the region, obtain the endpoint of IAM (iam.ap-southeast-3.myhwcloud.com) for this region and the resource-path (/v3/auth/tokens) in the URI of the API for obtaining a user token. Then, construct the URI as follows:

https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens

Figure 1 Example URI

To simplify the URI display in this document, each API is provided only with a resource-path and a request method. The URI-scheme of all APIs is HTTPS, and the endpoints of all APIs in the same region are identical.

Request Methods

The HTTP protocol defines the following request methods that can be used to send a request to the server:

• GET: requests the server to return specified resources.
• PUT: requests the server to update specified resources.
• POST: requests the server to add resources or perform special operations.
• DELETE: requests the server to delete specified resources, for example, an object.
• HEAD: requests a server resource header.
• PATCH: requests the server to update partial content of a specified resource. If the resource does not exist, a new resource will be created. If the resource is unavailable, the PATCH method is used to create a resource.

For example, in the case of the API for obtaining a user token, the request method is POST. The request is as follows:

POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens

Request Header

You can also add additional header fields to a request, such as the fields required by a specified URI or HTTP method. For example, to request for the authentication information, add Content-Type, which specifies the request body type.

Common request header fields are as follows:

• Content-Type: specifies the request body type or format. This field is mandatory and its default value is application/json. Other values of this field will be provided for specific APIs if any.
• X-Auth-Token: specifies a user token only for token-based API authentication. The user token is a response to the API for obtaining a user token. This API is the only one that does not require authentication.

• X-Project-ID: specifies a subproject ID. This parameter is optional and can be used in multi-project scenarios.
• X-Domain-ID: specifies an account ID.

The API for obtaining a user token does not require authentication. Therefore, only the Content-Type field needs to be added to requests for calling the API. An example of such requests is as follows:

Request Body

A request body is generally sent in structured format. It corresponds to Content-Type in the request header and transfers content except the request header. If the request body contains Chinese characters, set Content-type to utf-8, for example, Content-Type: application/json;utf-8.

The request body varies between APIs. Some APIs do not require the request body, such as the APIs requested using the GET and DELETE methods.

In the case of the API for obtaining a user token, the request parameters and parameter description can be obtained from the API request. The following provides an example request with a body included. Replace the italic fields in bold with the actual values.

• username: login user name
• **********: login password of the user
• domainname: account to which the user belongs
• xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: project name, that is, the region name obtained from Regions and Endpoints.

POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens 
Content-Type: application/json 

{ 
    "auth": { 
        "identity": { 
            "methods": [ 
                "password" 
            ], 
            "password": { 
                "user": { 
                    "name": "username", 
                    "password": "********", 
                    "domain": { 
                        "name": "domainname" 
                    } 
                } 
            } 
        }, 
        "scope": { 
            "project": { 
                "name": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" 
            } 
        } 
    } 
}

scope specifies the scope of the token. The value can be project or domain. In the preceding example, the value is project, indicating that the obtained token can access only resources in the specified project. If the value is domain, the obtained token takes effect for all resources of the specified account. For details about the scope parameter, see Obtaining a User Token.

If all data required for the API request is available, you can send the request to call the API through curl, postman, or coding. In the response to the API for obtaining a user token, x-subject-token is the desired user token. This token can then be used to authenticate the calling of other APIs.