Introduction to the SharePoint 2013 REST API

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About Me

SharePoint Solutions Architect at Sparkhound in Baton Rougehttp://www.sparkhound.com/pages/blogs.aspx@codygrosLeader of the Baton Rouge SharePoint User Group – www.brspug.com

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AGENDA

REST and ODATA OverviewSharePoint 2013 REST APIDemos

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REST IntroductionREST = REpresentational State TransferA simpler alternative to SOAP based on HTTP request/response pairsClient sends HTTP requests that target specific resources using unique URIs

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What is OData?

Odata is a standardized REST API for Data AccessODATA API maps CRUD operations to HTTP verbshttp://www.odata.org

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HTTP MethodsGET

Returns an item or array of itemsPOST

Creates a new itemPUT

Updates an item (replaces all fields with default values)

PATCH or MERGEUpdates an item in place (existing values are retained)

DELETEDeletes an item

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OData URIs

URI has three partsService root URIResource pathQuery string options

Service Root URI Resource Path to a SharePoint Object Query String Options

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OData Query Option Parameters$select

Specifies which columns to retrieve$filter

Selecting what items to retrieve$orderby

Sorting items$expand

Retrieve results that are usually deferred$top

Select how many items to return$skip

Selecting which row to start at

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DEMO

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Critical ToolsFiddlerCore jQuery libraryBrowser developer toolsAdvanced REST Client (Chrome App)Postman (Chrome App)

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Request HeadersAccept

what type of data you want to receiveContent-type

What type of data you are sending in the request body

X-HTTP-MethodWhich operation to perform

X-RequestDigestEncrypted security value required for updates

IF-MATCHPasses Etag value to control optimistic concurrency

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AJAX Calls

$.ajax() function is part of the core jQuery libraryURI end pointAccept header: application/json;odata=verbose

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Request DigestProvides security mechanism to protect against replay attacksSharePoint pages has element with ID __REQUESTDIGESTPassed in request by using X-RequestDigest header<site url>/_api/contextinfo

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Creating / Updating You must include item type metadata for inserts & updatesAll write operations must pass valid request digest value

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List Item Type MetadataEach SharePoint list has a unique type for its list items

String based type value must be passed will all inserts and updates

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Creating list items

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Delete list items

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Update List Items

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Current REST IssuesREST API does have support for

Managed MetadataWorkflows

Lacks batching support *

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Questions?

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