Updated on 2024-10-10 GMT+08:00

Making an API Request

This section describes the structure of a REST API request, and uses the IAM API for creating an IAM User as an example to demonstrate how to call an API.

Request URI

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

A request URI consists of four parts: {URI-scheme} :// {Endpoint} / {resource-path}? {query-string}

The following table describes the parameters.

Parameter

Description

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 among 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.myhuaweicloud.com.

resource-path

Resource path, that is, the API access path, which is obtained from the URI of a specific API. For example, resource-path of the API for creating an IAM user is /v3.0/OS-USER/users.

query-string

(Optional) Query parameter. The query parameter is prefixed with a question mark (?), in the format of Parameter name=Parameter value. For example, limit=10 indicates that a maximum of 10 data records will be queried.

For example, if you want to create an IAM user, use the endpoint of any region because IAM is a global service. Obtain the endpoint of the AP-Singapore region (iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com) and find resource-path (/v3.0/OS-USER/users) in the URI of the API for creating an IAM user. Then, construct them as follows:

https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users
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. This is because the URI-scheme value of all APIs is HTTPS, and the endpoints in a region are the same.

Request Methods

HTTP 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, such as an object.
  • HEAD: same as GET except that the server must return only the response 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.

For example, in the case of the API for creating an IAM user, the request method is POST. An example request is as follows:


   
POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users

Request Header

You can also add additional header fields to a request, such as fields for specifying a URI and an HTTP method. For example, to request 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 are provided for specific APIs, if any.
  • Authorization: specifies signature authentication information. This field is optional. When AK/SK authentication is enabled, this field is automatically specified when SDK is used to sign the request. For more information, see AK/SK-based Authentication.
  • X-Sdk-Date: specifies the time when a request is sent. This field is optional. When AK/SK authentication is enabled, this field is automatically specified when SDK is used to sign the request. For more information, see AK/SK-based Authentication.
  • X-Auth-Token: specifies a user token only for token-based API authentication. The user token is a response to the API used to obtain a user token. Only this API does not require authentication.
  • X-Project-ID: specifies a subproject ID. This parameter is optional. It is used in multi-project scenarios. The X-Project-ID field is mandatory in the request header for accessing resources in a sub-project through AK/SK-based authentication.
  • X-Domain-ID: specifies account ID, which is optional. When you call APIs of global services using AK/SK-based authentication, X-Domain-ID needs to be configured in the request header.
The following shows an example request of the API for creating an IAM user when AK/SK authentication is used:
POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users
Content-Type: application/json
X-Sdk-Date: 20240416T095341Z 
Authorization: SDK-HMAC-SHA256 Access=****************, SignedHeaders=content-type;host;x-sdk-date, Signature=****************

Request Body

A request body is often sent in structured format. It corresponds to Content-Type in the request header and passes 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.

When you call 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 with the actual values.

  • accountid indicates the ID of the account to which the IAM user belongs.
  • username indicates the IAM username to be created.
  • email indicates the email address of the IAM user.
  • ********** indicates the login password of the IAM user.
    POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users
    Content-Type: application/json
    X-Sdk-Date: 20240416T095341Z 
    Authorization: SDK-HMAC-SHA256 Access=****************, SignedHeaders=content-type;host;x-sdk-date, Signature=**************** 
     
    { 
         "user": { 
             "domain_id": "accountid", 
             "name": "username", 
             "password": "**********", 
             "email": "email", 
             "description": "IAM user description" 
         } 
     }

If all data required for the API request is available, you can send the request to call the API through curl, Postman, or coding.