Quick Start

Step 1: Consider Before You Start

Review the basics. If you're new to REST APIs, make sure you understand the basics of REST and JSON, and scan our list of important terms.

Review roles and privileges. You must have the necessary security roles and privileges to use the GET, POST, PATCH, and DELETE methods on your parent and child resources.

Review opt-in requirements. Some REST resources or their attributes may be associated with features that require opt-in before you can use them. You must make sure that you enable opt-in features before you start.

Choose a REST client. REST APIs connect software programs over the HTTP protocol. You need a software client to send the HTTP requests. In our examples, we use cURL and Postman. But, these aren't the only tools you can use. To help you choose one, see Work with your REST Client.

Step 2: Get Your Oracle CX for Industries Account Info

To make a REST HTTP request, you need to gather a few bits of information:

REST Server URL. Typically, the URL of your Oracle Cloud service. For example, https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com.
User name and password. An Oracle Cloud service user with permissions to access the resources you're using.

You can find the REST Server URL, user name, and password in the welcome email sent to your service administrator.

Step 3: Configure Your Client

With the information gathered so far, you're ready to configure your client to send a REST HTTP request.

Construct the request URL. The URL consists of the server name and the resource path:
```
https://<server>/<resource-path>
```
The <server> is the REST Server URL from Step 2, as in:
```
https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com
```
The <resource-path> is the relative path or endpoint to the resource you're working with. You can pick any endpoint in All REST Endpoints. However, some resources or their attributes may be associated with features that require opt-in before you can use them. Ask your implementation manager which features are opted in for your company. In our example, we're interested in the Catalog resource or its attributes, which requires us to opt in the feature associated with it:
```
/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog
```
Combine the REST Server URL and, in this example, the catalog resource path and your request URL is complete. For more information, see REST API Versions and URL Paths.
```
https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog
```
In a client, such as Postman, you enter this combined URL in the Request URL field.

Note:

If you're using Visual Builder Studio to access REST APIs, see Create a Service Connection from a Service Specification. To access REST APIs using Oracle Integration Cloud, see Configure the REST Adapter to Consume an External REST API with No Metadata Described in a Document. You can also build your own client to access REST resources. To build a client using the Java programming language, see Accessing REST Resources with the JAX-RS Client API.
Provide your account information. Include your user name and password (from Step 2) in the client. For example, if you are using cURL, you can specify your account information using the -u cURL command as follows:
```
-u <username:password>
```
In a REST API client such as Postman, you enter the user name and password in the Authorization tab. This screenshot shows how to specify this information in Postman:

You must also select the appropriate authorization type, such as basic, for your server. See Step 4 for details.
Set the media type. Media type defines the structure of the HTTP payloads exchanged between the server and the client. For example, if you're using cURL, you can specify a resource item media type using the header -H command as follows:
```
-H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json'
```
For any request that has a request body (like POST or PATCH), you must include the Content-Type request header. For more on media types, see Supported Media Types.

When you're done, the complete cURL command should look like this:

curl -u <username:password> \
 -X GET https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog/describe  \
 -H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json'  | json_pp

In a REST API client, you include the media types as a part of the header information. For example in Postman, you can pass the media type as the Content-Type Key or header with the appropriate value such as

application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json

You can have multiple media types in your header.

If you're not familiar with any of the syntax used in the example, check out Work with your REST Client.

Depending on your business requirements, you might want to Set the REST Framework Version or Configure for CORS now to fine-tune the REST API behavior. Otherwise, you're ready to move on to Step 4.

Step 4: Authenticate and Authorize

Now that you've configured the client with a complete request URL, it's time to authenticate and authorize yourself. Authentication proves that your credentials are genuine, and authorization allows you to apply your access privileges.

Authentication

To make sure data access over a network is secure, Oracle Applications Cloud REST APIs use a global Oracle Web Services Manager (OWSM) security policy called Multi Token Over SSL RESTful Service Policy (oracle/multi_token_over_ssl_rest_service_policy). This security policy enforces the following authentication standards:

Basic authentication over SSL (Secure Socket Layer), which extracts the user name and password credentials from the HTTP header.
SAML 2.0 bearer token in the HTTP header over SSL , which extracts a SAML 2.0 bearer assertion (XML security token).

You must select one of the standards. Let's look at our example using Basic authentication over SSL. To authenticate, you must submit the user name and password for your Oracle Cloud account. Typically, the user name and password are encoded in Base64 format, as in:

curl \
-X GET https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog/describe  \
-H 'Authorization: Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json'

Alternatively, you can use the -u cURL option to pass the user name and password for your Oracle Cloud account, as in this example:

curl -u username:password \
-X GET https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog/describe \
-H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json'

Your authorization and authentication information gets passed in the Authorization key of the request header. When passing tokens (SAML or JWT) in Postman, the Authorization key must include Bearer, followed by the token, as shown in this screenshot:

Authorization

Authorization enforces access privileges by service role. Access to an object determines access to a resource. So, make sure that your user has the proper role.

For additional details, including a list of specific roles for accessing a resource, see:

Step 5: Send an HTTP Request

You're almost done. Now that your authentication and authorization are set, you're ready to send a test HTTP request. Continuing with our example, you want to get all the information about the structure of the Catalog object in REST. You can do this using the describe action in cURL:

curl -u username:password \
 -X GET https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog/describe \
-H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.oracle.adf.resourceitem+json'

This is how the request looks in Postman:

If your request for information about the Catalog object is successful, you receive a response with a body similar to the following abbreviated example. If your request fails, and you're using cURL, review the response comments, adjust your request, and then try again. If you're using other clients, review the failure Status Codes, and then try again.


{
    "openapi": "3.0.0",
    "info": {
        "version": "1.0.0",
        "title": "catalogManagement"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://servername.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/crmRestApi/atcProductCatalog/11.13.18.05/tmf-api/productCatalogManagement/v4/catalog/"
        }
    ],
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "catalog": {
                "title": "CatalogOracle",
                "type": "object",
                "x-resourceName": "Catalog",
                "description": "A catalog is a collection of entity catalog items and arranging them in a particular manner based on the need.",
                "allOf": [
                    {
                        "title": "Catalog",
                        "type": "object",
                        "x-resourceName": "Catalog",
                        "description": "A catalog is a collection of entity catalog items and arranging them in a particular manner based on the need.",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "maxLength": 30,
                                "description": "Unique identifier of the Catalog"
                            },
                            "href": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "description": "Unique reference of the catalog"
                            },
                            "name": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "description": "Name of the catalog"
                            },
                            "description": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "description": "Description of this catalog"
                            },


....
}

In a client such as Postman, the results are formatted and displayed in the Response section. For example, Postman lets you view the output in multiple formats. This screenshot shows the response in JSON.

Congratulations! Now you're ready to do more with your REST APIs.

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