Get to know the SharePoint 2013 REST service

•SharePoint REST service architecture-2013

SharePoint 2013 introduces a Representational State Transfer (REST) service that is comparable to the existing SharePoint client object models. Now, developers can interact remotely with SharePoint data by using any technology that supports REST web requests. This means that developers can perform Create, Read,Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations from their apps for SharePoint, solutions, and client applications, using REST web technologies and standard Open Data Protocol (OData) syntax.
How the SharePoint 2013 REST service works

SharePoint 2013 adds the ability for you to remotely interact with SharePoint sites by using REST. Now, you can interact directly with SharePoint objects by using any technology that supports standard REST capabilities.

To access SharePoint resources using REST, construct a RESTful HTTP request, using the Open Data Protocol (OData) standard, which corresponds to the desired client object model API. For example:

Client object model method:

List.GetByTitle(listname)

REST endpoint:

http://server/site/_api/lists/getbytitle('listname')

The client.svc web service in SharePoint handles the HTTP request, and serves the appropriate response in either Atom or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Your client application must then parse that response. The figure below shows a high-level view of the SharePoint REST architecture.

SharePoint REST service architecture

Because of the functionality and ease of use that client object models provide, they remain the primary development option for communicating with SharePoint sites by using .NET Framework managed code, Silverlight, or JavaScript.

Use HTTP commands with the SharePoint 2013 REST service

To use the REST capabilities that are built into SharePoint 2013, you construct a RESTful HTTP request, using the OData standard, which corresponds to the client object model API you want to use. The client.svc web service handles the HTTP request and serves the appropriate response in either Atom or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. The client application must then parse that response.

The endpoints in the SharePoint 2013 REST service correspond to the types and members in the SharePoint client object models. By using HTTP requests, you can use these REST endpoints to perform typical CRUD operations against SharePoint entities, such as lists and sites.

In general:

If you want to do this to an endpoint	Use this HTTP request	Keep in mind
Read a resource	GET
Create or update a resource	POST	Use POST to create entities such as lists and sites. The SharePoint 2013 REST service supports sending POST commands that include object definitions to endpoints that represent collections. For POST operations, any properties that are not required are set to their default values. If you attempt to set a read-only property as part of a POST operation, the service returns an exception.
Update or insert a resource	PUT	Use PUT and MERGE operations to update existing SharePoint objects. Any service endpoint that represents an object property set operation supports both PUT requests and MERGErequests. For MERGE requests, setting properties is optional; any properties that you do not explicitly set retain their current property. For PUT requests, if you do not specify all required properties in object updates, the REST service returns an exception. In addition, any optional properties you do not explicitly set are set to their default properties.
Delete a resource	DELETE	Use the HTTP DELETE command against the specific endpoint URL to delete the SharePoint object represented by that endpoint. In the case of recyclable objects, such as lists, files, and list items, this results in a Recycle operation.

Construct REST URLs to access SharePoint resources

Whenever possible, the URI for these REST endpoints closely mimics the API signature of the resource in the SharePoint client object model. The main entry points for the REST service represent the site collection and site of the specified context.

To access a specific site collection, use the following construction:

http://server/site/_api/site

To access a specific site, use the following construction:

http://server/site/_api/web

In each case, server represents the name of the server, and site represents the name of, or path to, the specific site.

From this starting point, you can then construct more specific REST URIs by ''walking" the object model, using the names of the APIs from the client object model separated by a forward slash (/).

This syntax doesn’t apply to the SocialFeedManager or SocialFollowingManager REST APIs. See Social feed REST API reference for SharePoint 2013 andFollowing people and content REST API reference for SharePoint 2013 for more information.

See Determine SharePoint REST service endpoint URIs for more guidelines for determining SharePoint REST endpoint URIs from the signature of the corresponding client object model APIs.

SharePoint REST endpoint examples

The following table contains typical REST endpoint URL examples to get you started working with SharePoint data. Prepend http://server/site/_api/ to the URL fragments shown in the table to construct a fully qualified REST URL. Where necessary for POST commands, the table contains sample data you must pass in the HTTP request body to create the specified SharePoint item. Items in italics represent variables that you must replace with your values.

Description	URL endpoint	HTTP method	Body content
Retrieves the title of a list	web/title	GET	Not applicable
Retrieves all lists on a site	lists	GET	Not applicable
Retrieves a single 'list's metadata	lists/getbytitle('listname')	GET	Not applicable
Retrieves items within a list	lists/getbytitle('listname')/items	GET	Not applicable
Retrieves a specific property of a document. (In this case, the document title.)	lists/getbytitle('listname')?select=Title	GET	Not applicable
Creates a list	lists	POST	{ '_metadata':{'type':SP.List}, 'AllowContentTypes': true, 'BaseTemplate': 104, 'ContentTypesEnabled': true, 'Description': 'My list description', 'Title': 'RestTest' }
Adds an item to a list	lists/getbytitle('listname')/items	POST	{ '_metadata':{'type':SP. listnameListItem}, 'Title': 'MyItem' }