REST(2), RESTFUL Services/Architecture vs. REST based Services/Architecture

Web API is a popular tool used for current middle-tier development. Web API is based on the concept of REST. These two articles are summaries of REST and REST-related issues with my understanding.

REST(1), In Concept
REST(2), RESTFUL Services/Architecture vs. REST-based Services/Architecture --- this article
REST(3), Web API
REST(4), Web API Naming Convension

The second article was my learning notes several years ago, summarising the REST features, related issues and my understanding. When I tried to rewrite them into an article, I found out that I should review and briefly summarize the basic concept of REST, but that is not just easy work and can be done in several words or sentences. Then I think I'd better write another article for the basic concept of REST, that is REST(1), In Concept.

This article will be emphasizing on REST in practice, with more of my understanding.

Introduction

This will be the contents of this article,

A - What is REST
B - Principles of REST
C - REST Based Service vs. RESTful Service
1. ASP.NET MVC vs. Web API
2. AJAX vs. Web API
3. WCF REST vs. Web API

A: What is REST

Theoretically, REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is basically an architectural style that could be implemented by any languages or any platform, while ASP.NET Web API is a Microsoft tool to produce the RESTful output through HTTP for Clients (RESTful is typically used to refer to web services implementing such a REST architecture. ).

However, as a Microsoft developer, we could think ASP.NET Web API is a REST model, and according to it to understand the features of REST.

B: Principles of REST[ref]

REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is basically an architectural style of development having some principles...

It should be stateless
It should access all the resources from the server using only URI
It does not have inbuilt encryption
It does not have a session
It uses one and only one protocol is HTTP
For performing CRUD operations, it should use HTTP verbs such as to get, post, put and delete
It should return the result only in the form of JSON or XML, atom, OData, etc. (lightweight data )

C: REST Based Service vs. RESTful Service[ref]

RESTFUL services mean it follows all the above principles.
REST-based services follow some of the above principles and not all

It is similar to the concept of,

Object-oriented languages support all of the OOPs features, for examples: C++, C#
Object-based languages support some of the OOPs concepts, for examples: JavaScript, VB

1. ASP.NET MVC vs. Web API[ref]

ASP.NET MVC 4 is REST-Based while Microsoft WEB API is RESTFul.

MVC supports only some of the above REST principles whereas WEB API supports all the above REST Principles.

MVC only supports the following from the REST API,

We can access the resource using URI
It supports the HTTP verb to access the resource from the server
It can return the results in the form of JSON, XML, that is the HTTPResponse.

However, at the same time in MVC,

We can use the session
We can make it stateful
We can return video or image from the controller action method which basically violates the REST principles

That is why MVC is REST-Based whereas WEB API supports all the above principles and is RESTFul.

2. AJAX vs. Web API[ref]

AJAX is REST-Based while Microsoft WEB API is RESTFul.

High REST and Low RES

High REST - Uses all 4 verbs and uses well-constructed URIs.

LOW REST - Uses mostly Get and POST verbs only. More suited for Ajax services.

NOTE

PUT and DELETE verbs are not supported by all browsers. Also, PUT and DELETE can be handled using the POST verb itself.

HTTP Verbs

HTTP defines nine methods (sometimes referred to as "verbs") indicating the desired action to be performed on the identified resource.

GET GET method requests a representation of the specified resource. Requests using GET should only retrieve data.
POST POST method is used to submit an entity to the specified resource, often causing a change in state or side effects on the server.
PUT PUT method replaces all current representations of the target resource with the request payload.
DELETE DELETE method deletes the specified resource.
PATCH PATCH method is used to apply partial modifications to a resource.
HEAD HEAD method asks for a response identical to that of a GET request, but without the response body.
CONNECT CONNECT method establishes a tunnel to the server identified by the target resource.
OPTIONS OPTIONS method is used to describe the communication options for the target resource.
TRACE TRACE method performs a message loop-back test along the path to the target resource.

while the most popular 4 are

plus: Patch

3. WCF REST vs. Web API[ref]

WCF REST is REST-Based while Microsoft WEB API is RESTFul.

WCF Rest

To use WCF as a WCF Rest service you have to enablewebHttpBindings.
It supports HTTP GET and POST verbs by [WebGet] and [WebInvoke] attributes respectively.
To enable other HTTP verbs you have to do some configuration in IIS to accept the request of that particular verb on .svc files
Passing data through parameters using a WebGet needs configuration. The UriTemplate must be specified.
It supports XML, JSON, and ATOM data format.

Summary

This article is understanding the concept of REST and RESTful Service in practice.

Reference

REST based Services/Architecture vs. RESTFUL Services/Architecture --- stackoverflow.com
WCF Rest Service --- c-sharpcorner
Difference between WCF, Web API, WCF REST and Web Service? --- stackoverflow.com
HTTP request methods --- MND Web Docs
- GET GET method requests a representation of the specified resource. Requests using GET should only retrieve data.
- HEAD HEAD method asks for a response identical to that of a GET request, but without the response body.
- POST POST method is used to submit an entity to the specified resource, often causing a change in state or side effects on the server.
- PUT PUT method replaces all current representations of the target resource with the request payload.
- DELETE DELETE method deletes the specified resource.
- CONNECT CONNECT method establishes a tunnel to the server identified by the target resource.
- OPTIONS OPTIONS method is used to describe the communication options for the target resource.
- TRACE TRACE method performs a message loop-back test along the path to the target resource.
- PATCH PATCH method is used to apply partial modifications to a resource.
What’s the Difference Between a URI and a URL? --- danielmiessler.com
- URI --- Uniform Resource Identifier: a specific resource. Like a page, or book, or a document.
- URL --- Uniform Resource Locatoion: Identifier + address: such as HTTP, FTP, etc.—like https://www.google.com.
- URN --- Uniform Resource Name