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.
• resource-path: Access path of an API for performing a specified operation. Obtain the path from the URI of an API. For example, the resource-path of the API used to obtain 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.

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: 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 used to obtain a user token, the request method is POST. The request is as follows:

POST https://iam.xxx.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.

Request Body

The body of a request is often sent in a structured format as specified in the Content-Type header field. The request body transfers content except the request header.

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 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) with the actual values. To learn how to obtain a project ID, see Obtaining a Project ID.

POST https://iam.xxx.com/v3/auth/tokens
Content-Type: application/json

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

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.