REST API documentation for developers

[667...@gmail.com]

Hi I'm migrating my 6.4 Dspace to 8 and i have a number of REST services implemented in dspace-rest in 6.4

Documentation of Dspace 8 mandates all REST services to migrate to the new REST API but it does not give any useful directions on how to; hence my question - 

is there any new REST API documentation for developers who need to develop new REST services? 

I tried so far to copy & compile some classes from /dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/model/ but for no effect so far. I can see services declared in dspace/config/spring/api/core-services.xml so maybe this is the way to go but again, maybe there's a better way to create own services other that modifying core; i can see classes implementing @GetMapping but so far i'm failing to properly call them

Thanks

[DSpace Technical Support]

Hi,

At this time, we do not have a detailed guide for REST API development.  However, we do have endpoint & design documentation in our REST Contract at https://github.com/DSpace/RestContract/blob/main/README.md   A key section to be aware of is that the new REST API aligns & uses Spring Technologies: https://github.com/DSpace/RestContract/blob/main/README.md#spring-technology-alignment.   This means that if you use guides for how to build REST APIs in Spring (using those technologies), those will help you better understand how the new DSpace REST API works.

Unfortunately, the reality is that the older DSpace 6 REST API had to be entirely rebuilt.  There is no easy way to migrate that old code into the new REST API, as the new REST API is a complete redesign in order to better align with REST best practices & Spring best practices.  The older v6 REST API provided basic functionality, but didn't align with those best practices... which is why move code from that older API to the newer one is not a simple task.

If you have more specific questions, you are welcome to ask them on this list or on the dspace-devel mailing list. 

Tim

[667...@gmail.com]

Hi Tim, 

Thanks for your answer

It turned out easier than i thought. It was enough to copy one of controllers (i think i took dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/CommunityAdminGroupRestController.java because it's small and it contains working authentication) into an own controller, modify classname and mappings and it became callable right away; after that it's indeed all spring REST

I'm still uncertain about the converter service and the way to put the results into ResponseEntity<RepresentationModel<?>> but it's the minor issue