Examples of REST API commands#

Many REST and command-line client commands have examples in their help topics. A few more examples using various programming languages and scenarios are provided here. The commands are similar for the server.

Complete scenarios#

For complete examples of using several REST commands together, see the following pages:

• Deploying applications by using REST commands: An example
• rest_api_ref_provision_example.md

Authentication#

To run commands, you must first authenticate to the server. See Authenticating for REST commands.

Running REST commands in process steps#

Plug-ins contain many steps that do the same tasks as REST API commands, but if you want to run a REST command as part of a process, one way to do so is to use the Send HTTP Call step in the Web Utilities plugin. To use the REST API with this step, add the step to a process and specify the following information:

• Name

  Specify a name for the step.

• URL

  Specify the complete URL of the command. For example, to use the command Get information about all applications on the server, specify the URL https://ucd-server.example.com:8443/cli/application, using the host name or IP address of your server for ucd-server.example.com.

• HTTP Method

  Specify the method for the command, such as GET or PUT. For the method to use, see the documentation for the command.

• Headers

  Specify any headers for the command, separated by line breaks. If the command requires headers, the headers are listed in the documentation for the command. For example, if you are sending JSON data along with the command, add the following header:

  Content-Type: application/json

  The step automatically includes the headers Content-Length, Content-Type, Accept, and Connection. You can override each of these headers by specifying them in the Headers field except for the Content-Length header. The Accept & Content-Type headers are set by the value in the Request Content Type field, but you can still override these headers in the Headers field.

• Data / Data File

  Specify the data payload to send along with the command or a file that contains the data.

• Request Content Type

  Select the content type of the data. This field sets the value of the Accept and Content-Type headers.

• Allow Untrusted SSL Certs

  Select the check box to ignore untrusted certifications, such as self-signed certificates.

• Username

  Specify the user name with which to run the command. Running a command with the REST API requires the same permissions as using the web interface.

• Password

  Specify the password with which to run the command.

• Output file

  Optionally, specify a file name to store the result of the command.

Running REST commands in the command-line interface#

The Linux™ program curl is one of many programs that can run REST commands from the command line. For an example, see Running REST commands.

Running REST commands in Java™#

For an example of running REST commands in Java, see Authenticating for REST commands.

Running REST commands in Python#

For an example of running REST commands in Python, see Authenticating for REST commands.

Running REST commands in a Groovy script#

For an example of running REST commands in a Groovy script, see the following page: https://github.com/IBM-UrbanCode/groovy-sample-scripts-UCD

Parent topic: REST API reference