jQuery REST Client

v1.0.1

Summary

A jQuery plugin for easy consumption of RESTful APIs

Downloads

• Development Version
• Production Version

File Size Report

Original: 10314 bytes.
Minified: 5920 bytes.
Gzipped:  1376 bytes.

Features

• Simple
• Uses jQuery Deferred for Asynchonous chaining
• Basic Auth Support
• Helpful Error Messages
• Memory Cache
• Cross-domain Requests with XDomain

Basic Usage

1. Create a client.
2. Construct your API.
3. Make requests.

First setup your page:

<!-- jQuery -->
<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<!-- jQuery rest -->
<script src="http://jpillora.com/jquery.rest/dist/1/jquery.rest.min.js"></script>
<!-- WARNING: I advise not using this link, instead download and host this library on your own server as GitHub has download limits -->

<script>
  // Examples go here...
</script>

Hello jquery.rest

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');

client.foo.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/
client.foo.read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo/42/
client.foo.read('forty-two');
// GET /rest/api/foo/forty-two/

Retrieving Results (Uses jQuery's $.Deferred)

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');

var request = client.foo.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/
request.done(function (data, textStatus, xhrObject){
  alert('I have data: ' + data);
});

// OR simply:
client.foo.read().done(function (data){
  alert('I have data: ' + data);
});

More Examples

Nested Resources

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');
client.foo.add('baz');

client.foo.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/
client.foo.read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo/42/

client.foo.baz.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/???/baz/???/
// ERROR: jquery.rest: Invalid number of ID arguments, required 1 or 2, provided 0
client.foo.baz.read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo/42/baz/
client.foo.baz.read('forty-two',21);
// GET /rest/api/foo/forty-two/baz/21/

Basic CRUD Verbs

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');

// C
client.foo.create({a:21,b:42});
// POST /rest/api/foo/ (with data a=21 and b=42)
// Note: data can also be stringified to: {"a":21,"b":42} in this case, see options below

// R
client.foo.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/
client.foo.read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo/42/

// U
client.foo.update(42, {my:"updates"});
// PUT /rest/api/42/   my=updates

// D
client.foo.destroy(42);
client.foo.del(42);
// DELETE /rest/api/foo/42/
// Note: client.foo.delete() has been disabled due to IE compatibility

Adding Custom Verbs

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');
client.foo.addVerb('bang', 'PATCH');

client.foo.bang({my:"data"});
//PATCH /foo/bang/   my=data
client.foo.bang(42,{my:"data"});
//PATCH /foo/42/bang/   my=data

Basic Authentication

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/', {
  username: 'admin',
  password: 'secr3t'
});

client.add('foo');

client.foo.read();
// GET /rest/api/foo/
// With header "Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46c2VjcjN0"

Note: A window.btoa polyfill such as Base64.js will be required for this feature to work in IE6,7,8,9

Caching

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/', {
  cache: 5, //This will cache requests for 5 seconds
  cachableMethods: ["GET"] //This defines what method types can be cached (this is already set by default)
});

client.add('foo');

client.foo.read().done(function(data) {
  //'client.foo.read' is now cached for 5 seconds
});

// wait 3 seconds...

client.foo.read().done(function(data) {
  //data returns instantly from cache
});

// wait another 3 seconds (total 6 seconds)...

client.foo.read().done(function(data) {
  //'client.foo.read' cached result has expired
  //data is once again retrieved from the server
});

// Note: the cache can be cleared with:
client.cache.clear();

Override Options

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo', {
  stripTrailingSlash: true,
  cache: 5
});

client.foo.add('bar', {
  cache: 10,
});

client.foo.read(21);
// GET /rest/api/foo (strip trailing slash and uses a cache timeout of 5)

client.foo.bar.read(7, 42);
// GET /rest/api/foo/7/bar/42 (still strip trailing slash though now uses a cache timeout of 10)

Fancy URLs

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

Say we want to create an endpoint /rest/api/foo-fancy-1337-url/, instead of doing:

client.add('foo-fancy-1337-url');

client['foo-fancy-1337-url'].read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo-fancy-1337-url/42

Which is bad and ugly, we do:

client.add('foo', { url: 'foo-fancy-1337-url' });

client.foo.read(42);
// GET /rest/api/foo-fancy-1337-url/42

Query Parameters

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');

client.foo.read({bar:42});
// GET /rest/api/foo/?bar=42

client.foo.create({ data:7 }, { bar:42 });
// POST /rest/api/foo/?bar=42 with body 'data=7'

client.foo.read({ data:7 }, { bar:42 });
// GET has no body!
// GET /rest/api/foo/?bar=42&data=7

Show API Example

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');
client.add('bar');
client.foo.add('baz');

client.show();

Console should say:

ROOT: /rest/api/
  foo: /rest/api/foo/:ID_1/
    create: POST
    read: GET
    update: PUT
    delete: DELETE
    baz: /rest/api/foo/:ID_1/baz/:ID_2/
      create: POST
      read: GET
      update: PUT
      delete: DELETE
  bar: /rest/api/bar/:ID_1/
    create: POST
    read: GET
    update: PUT
    delete: DELETE

Simplify client

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('forum');
client.forum.add('post');
client.forum.post.add('comment');

Instead of:

client.forum.post.comment.read(42,21,7);
client.forum.post.comment.update(42,21,7, {...});

You can do:

var comment = client.forum.post.comment;
comment.read(42,21,7);
comment.update(42,21,7, {...});

Global Client Example

$.client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

// in another file...

$.client.add('foo');

Note: This is not best practise, use RequireJS, CommonJS or similar !

Method Override Header

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');
client.foo.update(42);
// PUT /rest/api/foo/42/

client.add('bar', { methodOverride: true });
client.bar.update(42);
// POST /rest/api/bar/42/
// with header 'X-HTTP-Method-Override: PUT'

Singleton Resource Example

var client = new $.RestClient('/rest/api/');

client.add('foo');
client.foo.add('bar', { isSingle: true });
client.foo.bar.add('bazz');

client.foo.bar.bazz.read(42, 21);
// GET /rest/api/foo/42/bar/bazz/21/
//        'bar' has no id  ^

API

new $.RestClient( [ url ], [ options ] )

Instantiates and returns the root resource. Below denoted as client.

client.add( name, [ options ] )

Instaniates a nested resource on client. Internally this does another new $.RestClient though instead of setting it as root, it will add it as a nested (or child) resource as a property on the current client.

Newly created nested resources iterate through their options.verbs and addVerb on each.

Note: The url of each of these verbs is set to "".

See default options.verbs here.

client.addVerb( name, method, [ options ] )

Instaniates a new Verb function property on the client.

Note: name is used as the url if options.url is not set.

client.verb( [id1], ..., [idN], [data], [params])

All verbs use this signature. Internally, they are all essentially calls to $.ajax with custom options depending on the parent client and options.

ids must be a string or number.

data is a jQuery Ajax Options Object's data property. If ajax.data is set on the client this data will extend it.

params query parameters to be appended to the url

Note: A helpful error will be thrown if invalid arguments are used.

Options

The options object is a plain JavaScript option that may only contain the properties listed below.

See defaults here

Important: Both resources and verbs inherit their parent's options !

cache

A number representing the number of seconds to used previously cached requests. When set to 0, no requests are stored.

cachableMethods

An array of strings representing the HTTP method types that can be cached. Is ["GET"] by default.

verbs

A plain object used as a name to method mapping.

The default verbs object is set to:

{
  'create': 'POST',
  'read'  : 'GET',
  'update': 'PUT',
  'delete': 'DELETE'
}

For example, to change the default behaviour of update from using PUT to instead use POST, set the verbs property to { update: 'POST' }

url

A string representing the URL for the given resource or verb.

Note: url is not inherited, if it is not set explicitly, the name is used as the URL.

stringifyData

When true, will pass all POST data through JSON.stringify (polyfill required for IE<=8).

stripTrailingSlash

When true, the trailing slash will be stripped off the URL.

username and password

When both username and password are set, all ajax requests will add an 'Authorization' header. Encoded using btoa (polyfill required not non-webkit).

ajax

The jQuery Ajax Options Object

methodOverride

When true, requests (excluding HEAD and GET) become POST requests and the method chosen will be set as the header: X-HTTP-Method-Override. Useful for clients and/or servers that don't support certain HTTP methods.

request

The function used to perform the request (must return a jQuery Deferred). By default, it is:

request: function(resource, options) {
  return $.ajax(options);
}

isSingle

When true, resource is perceived as singleton:

See Singleton Resource Example

autoClearCache

When false, non-cachable requests (PUT, POST or DELETE - those not in cachableMethods) won't automatically clear the request's entry in the cache.

Note: Want more options ? Open up a New Feature Issue above.

---

Conceptual Overview

This plugin is made up nested 'Resource' classes. Resources contain options, child Resources and child Verbs. Verbs are functions that execute various HTTP requests. Both new $.RestClient and client.add construct new instances of Resource, however the former will create a root Resource with no Verbs attached, whereas the latter will create child Resources with all of it's options.verbs attached.

Since each Resource can have it's own set of options, at instantiation time, options are inherited from parent Resources, allowing one default set of options with custom options on child Resources.

Todo

• CSRF
• Add Tests

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md

Change Log

• v1.0.0 - Stable v1. Added isSingle and autoClearCache by @stalniy
• v0.0.6 - Added methodOverride option
• v0.0.5 - Minor bug fixes
• v0.0.4 - Simplified API
• v0.0.3 - Added into the jQuery Plugin Repo
• v0.0.2 - Bug fixes
• v0.0.1 - Beta Version

MIT License

Copyright © 2014 Jaime Pillora dev@jpillora.com

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.