POST request with the REST Client extension for Visual Studio Code - visual-studio-code

I'm using the "REST Client" extension for Visual Studio Code https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=humao.rest-client.
I'm able to make a GET request with this code:
GET https://some.domain.com/search/someuser/somekey?foo=5&bar=1
and it works.
Now, I need to make a POST request and pass the foo and bar values as form fields.
I tried with:
POST https://some.domain.com/search/
Authorization: Basic someuser somekey
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
'foo'='5'
'bar'='1'
but I'm getting back an error "Missing required parameter foo in the post body"
What is the correct syntax for a POST request with REST Client?
Thanks.

It works like this:
POST https://some.domain.com/search/
Authorization: Basic someuser somekey
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
foo='5'&bar='1'
parameters need to be concatenated with &
parameter names should
not be put in between quotes

Related

How to Post a multipart/form-data with different Content-Types in SoapUi

I have a POST Rest-Request which consumes a multipart/form-data with an (optional) file part and a json part. Now I try to setup a SoapUi Rest-Request to test the ressource.
The equivalent request in postman for that json part looks like:
Key: someKey, Value: {"some": "json"}, Content Type: application/json
The equivalent cUrl Request is:
curl -X POST http://some-url -F "someKey={\"some\":\"json\"};type=application/json"
How to achieve this with SoapUi? I tried all possibles I can imagine, also a parameter with a file containing this json object like I found in a similar question.

Prevent URL-encoding of values when adding headers to TRESTClient

I'm working on a Delphi REST client for a public API that requires an HMAC256/Base64 signed string to be added to the headers of the request to authenticate. I've spent hours trying to figure out why it's not working, so I compared the raw request from my Delphi client to that of a working C# library (using Wireshark).
It turns out my request matches perfectly the request generated by the working C# library, except that Delphi's REST client is URL-encoding the values added to the request's header, therefore invalidating the carefully crafted signature.
This is how I'm adding the signature string to the header:
RESTRequest1.Params.AddHeader('SIGNATURE', FSignature);
The signature string may have slashes, plus signs, and/or equal signs that are being URL-encoded when they shouldn't. For example when the value of the signature string is...
FSignature = '8A1BgACL9kB6P/kXuPdm99s05whfkrOUnEziEtU+0OY=';
...then the request should should output raw headers like...
GET /resource HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Embarcadero URI Client/1.0
Connection: Keep-Alive
<snip>
SIGNATURE: 8A1BgACL9kB6P/kXuPdm99s05whfkrOUnEziEtU+0OY=
<snip>
...but instead Wireshark shows this as the real value being sent...
SIGNATURE: 8A1BgACL9kB6P%2FkXuPdm99s05whfkrOUnEziEtU%2B0OY%3D
Is there a way to prevent the URL-encoding of values when using AddHeader? Or maybe another way to add raw headers to a TRESTClient request?
PS: I already tried both TRESTRequest.Params.AddHeader and TRESTClient.AddParameter with TRESTRequestParameterKind.pkHTTPHEADER as the Kind parameter. Both resulted in URL-encoded values.
PS2: Using Delphi RAD Studio 10.3.
You should include poDoNotEncode in the Options property of the TRESTRequestParameter.
This can be done using:
RESTClient1.AddParameter('SIGNATURE', FSignature, pkHTTPHEADER, [poDoNotEncode]);
or by using:
RESTClient1.Params.AddHeader('SIGNATURE', FSignature).Options := [poDoNotEncode];

"Missing Authentication Token" Error when calling DVLA MOT history API with Postman

Note - I am very much new to all this. Apologies if anything is unclear.
My overriding aim is to pull out MOT history data for a large batch of vehicles from the DVLA API. I understand that this can be done using Postman, which I am using (on a 64-bit Windows laptop if at all relevant).
The DVLA provide the following instructions
====================================================
Getting started
All API interfaces are implemented as restful APIs and accessed over https.
To access API you will need an API key that uniquely identifies the source of the request. DVSA will give you an API key if it approves your application.
You should keep your API key secure, as DVSA manages throttling and quotas at an API key level.
Each request must have the following mandatory fields in the header:
Accept: application/json+v6
x-api-key:
Content-type field confirms that the response type is in JSON format, and the x-api-key field serves your API key to identify the source of the request.
Technical resources
Access the API at https://beta.check-mot.service.gov.uk/
This root URL will change when the service moves from beta to live.
These 4 endpoints equate to the 4 methods of using the API:
/trade/vehicles/mot-tests?registration={registration}
‘Registration’ is the vehicle registration number.
===================================================
In order to test that this is possible, I am entering the following single request into the bar in Postman, selecting "POST" and hitting "SEND"
https://beta.check-mot.service.gov.uk/trade/vehicles/mot-tests?Content-type=application/json&x-api-key=ABCDEFGH&registration=MYREG
n.b. no inverted commas or other punctuation surrounds the actual values for ABCDEFH or MYREG
Expected result: Some sort of JSON with MOT history for this vehicle
Actual result: {"message": "Missing Authentication Token"}{"message": "Missing Authentication Token"}
I am unclear on:
- whether I should be using POST
what the +v6 after the application is necessary (other documentation leaves it out)
Why "Accept" and "Content-type" appear to be used interchangeably in the documentation
Whether the ordering of the parameters matters
Whether this can be equally tested by simply pasting the url into a browser
Thanks for any help
Reading through the Documentation found here:
https://dvsa.github.io/mot-history-api-documentation/
It mentions that those fields should be added as Headers:
Each request must have the following mandatory fields in
the header:
- Accept: application/json+v6
- x-api-key: <your api key>
There are example cURL requests on the site to help you with creating the request.
If you use Postman's Import feature within the app (found in the top right), you can add this cURL request in the Paste Raw Text tab.
curl -H "Accept: application/json+v6" -H "x-api-key: <your_api_key>" https://beta.check-mot.service.gov.uk/trade/vehicles/mot-tests\?registration=ZZ99ABC
This will give you an example request of what it should look like. From here, you will be able to add in your own API Token and send the request.
If you are using Postman, you can use the Authorization tab right under the request to give the required mandatory header fields. Select Header from Add to drop down. You can also add additional headers information using the next tab named Headers. (for example, the accept-headers).
Edit:
Authorization:
Headers Tab
Normally, you should be getting the authorization token when you register to the site in question(x-api-key here).You need to figure out the value of that token from the initial call's response headers. According to the document which Danny shared, you will be getting x-api-key from them once they approve your request.
Edit:
Alternatively, you can use import feature as Danny suggested in his answer. At the end of the day, you need to add the values as headers instead of query parameters.
For anyone using Python with the MOT history api and getting the same error message, try GET:
import requests
url = f'https://beta.check-mot.service.gov.uk/trade/vehicles/mot-tests?registration={plate_number}'
payload = {}
headers = {
'Accept': 'application/json+v6',
'x-api-key': 'your-api-key'}
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, data=payload)
data = response.json()
model = data[0]['model'] # get the vehicle model for example
print(model)

HTTPie returning "Error processing request. All request parts must have the content-type header set."

I'm testing an API with HTTPie. The implementation notes of the method I'm trying to use states that it accepts a multipart query containing a model in JSON format (Content-Type=application/json) and one or several files (Content-Type=application/octet-stream). I'm trying to post a file accompanied by a model in JSON. According to what I understood from the HTPPie documentation the way to do it is passing it as form:
http --form POST https://smartcat.ai/api/integration/v1/project/document documentModel#/path/to/json/file taskfile#/path/to/file\ projectId==xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx
where projectId is a parameter to be sent as query string.
I've tried to set a Content-Type header for each file, however it doesn't seem right, as I expected the --form flag to set content-type as multipart/form-data, according to the documentation.
I'm sure I'm missing something basic, so any ideas on the direction to follow and how to better understand mime types are very welcome.

How to design REST API for export endpoint?

I am designing a REST API and am running into a design issue. I have alerts that I'd like the user to be able to export to one of a handful of file formats. So we're already getting into actions/commands with export, which feels like RPC and not REST.
Moreover, I don't want to assume a default file format. Instead, I'd like to require it to be provided. I don't know how to design the API to do that, and I also don't know what response code to return if the required parameter isn't provided.
So here's my first crack at it:
POST /api/alerts/export?format=csv
OR
POST /api/alerts/export/csv
Is this endpoint set up the way you would? And is it set up in the right way to require the file format? And if the required file format isn't provided, what's the correct status code to return?
Thanks.
In fact you should consider HTTP content negotiation (or CONNEG) to do this. This leverages the Accept header (see the HTTP specification: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.1) that specifies which is the expected media type for the response.
For example, for CSV, you could have something like that:
GET /api/alerts
Accept: text/csv
If you want to specify additional hints (file name, ...), the server could return the Content-Disposition header (see the HTTP specification: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec19.html#sec19.5.1) in the response, as described below:
GET /api/alerts
Accept: text/csv
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="alerts.csv"
(...)
Hope it helps you,
Thierry