Making an API Request

Request URI

The format of a request URI is as follows:

{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 endpoint. Obtain the value from Regions and Endpoints.
• 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: optional query parameter. Ensure that a question mark (?) is included before a query parameter that is in the format of "Parameter name=Parameter value". For example, ? limit=10 indicates that a maximum of 10 pieces of data is to be viewed.

For example, to obtain the SSH key list in the AP-Singapore region, obtain the endpoint of CodeArts Repo (codehub-ext.cn-southeast-3.testcloud.com) for this region and the resource-path (v1/users/sshkey) in the URI of the API used to obtain the SSH key list (Obtaining the SSH Key List). Then, construct the URI as follows:

https://codehub-ext.cn-southeast-3.huaweiloud.com/v1/users/sshkey

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 Method

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

• 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, such as an object.

For example, in the case of the API used to obtain the SSH key list (see Obtaining the SSH Key List), the request method is GET. The request is as follows:

GET https://codehub-ext.cn-southeast-3.huaweicloud.com/v1/users/sshkey

Request Header

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

Common request header fields:

• 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: A user token only for token-based API authentication. The user token is a response to the API used to obtain a user token. This API is the only one that does not require authentication.

In addition to supporting token-based authentication, public cloud APIs also support authentication using AK/SK. During AK/SK-based authentication, an SDK is used to sign the request, and the Authorization (signature information) and X-Sdk-Date (time when the request is sent) header fields are automatically added to the request.

For more information, see AK/SK-based Authentication.

The API used to obtain 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:

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

Content-Type: application/json

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.

The request body varies according to APIs. Certain APIs do not require the request body, such as GET and DELETE.

In the case of the API used to obtain 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 username, domainname, ******** (login password), and xxxxxxxxxx (project ID, for example, cn-north-1) with the actual values. To learn how to obtain a project ID, see Regions and Endpoints.

The scope parameter specifies where a token takes effect. In the following example, the token takes effect only for the resources in a specified project. You can set scope to an account or a project under an account. In the following example, the token takes effect only for the resources in a specified project. For more information about this API, see Obtaining a User Token

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

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

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 used to obtain a user token, x-subject-token is the desired user token. This token can then be used to authenticate the calling of other APIs.