simple-webserver-with-REST

simple-webserver-with-REST example

Adding REST (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) JSON API to my simple-webserver.

Table of Contents,

• WHAT IS REST
• REST vs TCP/IP
• HIGH-LEVEL VIEW OF CODE
• USING A ROUTER - GORILLA/MUX
• MOCKDATABASE
• RUN
  • NORMAL WEBPAGE (GUI)
  • GET
  • POST (add)
  • PUT (replace/update)
  • DELETE

GitHub Webpage

WHAT IS REST

REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is just a standard way for computers to communicate over the web. It is stateless, meaning who cares what the computer is doing at the time.

There are 4 basic HTTP verbs we use in requests to interact with resources in a REST system,

• GET - Retrieve a specific resource by id or a collection of resources
• POST - Create a new resource
• PUT - Update a specific resource by id
• DELETE - Remove a specific resource by id

REST vs TCP/IP

REST does not have state, whereas tcp has an open connection and you can assume a lot about the server.

HIGH-LEVEL VIEW OF CODE

For simplicity, the code is broken into,

• simple-webserver-with-REST.go - Kicks off webserver
• router.go - The gorilla router
• routers.go - The list of the routes (e.g. /postdata)
• handlers - The functions to handle the routes
• mockdatabase.go - A slice of structs
• logger.go - A log wrapper for better output

USING A ROUTER - GORILLA/MUX

You will need to get github.com/gorilla/mux which is a popular package for writing web handlers.

go get -u -v github.com/gorilla/mux

MOCKDATABASE

A simple mock database has been set up,

TodoStruct{ID: "10", Name: "Write presentation", Completed: false},
TodoStruct{ID: "20", Name: "Eat Lunch", Completed: false},
TodoStruct{ID: "30", Name: "Pick up Milk", Completed: true},

RUN

go run simple-webserver-with-REST.go \
       router.go routes.go handlers.go mockdatabase.go logger.go

NORMAL WEBPAGE (GUI)

In a browser,

127.0.0.1:1234

Will also show entire database.

GET

127.0.0.1:1234/getdata/20

{"id":"20","name":"Eat Lunch","completed":false}

POST (add)

This will add data,

curl -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name":"Feed Cat", "Completed": false}' \
     http://127.0.0.1:1234/postdata/40

Check it was added,

127.0.0.1:1234/getdata/40

PUT (replace/update)

This will replace/update data,

curl -X PUT \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name":"Feed Cat", "Completed": true}' \
     http://127.0.0.1:1234/putdata/40

DELETE

curl -X DELETE \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     http://127.0.0.1:1234/deletedata/20