HTTP methods and RESTful APIs are essential concepts for web developers who want to create dynamic and interactive web applications. Read on to learn what HTTP methods are, how they relate to RESTful APIs, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of using PATCH vs PUT for updating resources.
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is the standard protocol for communication between web clients and servers. HTTP methods are the actions that clients can request from servers, such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, and others. Each method has a specific meaning and purpose, and servers should respond accordingly. For example, GET is used to retrieve data from a server, POST is used to create new data on a server, PUT is used to replace existing data on a server, and so on.
REST stands for Representational State Transfer, which is a set of principles and best practices for designing web APIs. RESTful APIs are web APIs that follow the REST principles, such as using HTTP methods to perform operations on resources, using uniform and meaningful URLs to identify resources, and using standard formats to exchange data, such as JSON or XML. RESTful APIs aim to be simple, stateless, scalable, and consistent.
One of the biggest benefits of using REST over HTTP is engineers can take advantage of all of the tooling developed for the protocol for serving websites and documents: - Content negotiation - Caching - Path-based load balancing - Authentication - Websockets Additionally, firewalls are designed around allowing HTTP through, so there's a lot less in the way of requiring clients of your API to open up specific ports, and Deep Packet Inspection is incredibly unlikely to provide a barrier.
One of the common challenges that web developers face when working with RESTful APIs is how to update resources on a server. There are two main HTTP methods that can be used for this purpose: PATCH and PUT. PATCH is used to apply partial updates to a resource, meaning that only the fields that need to be changed are sent in the request body. PUT is used to replace the entire resource with a new representation, meaning that all the fields of the resource are sent in the request body, even if they are not modified.
The main way you'd update a remote resource is via POST. But Patch and Put are usefull if you've want to catch for error returns. For example, if you have lots of small updates your trying to make to a single remote file, then Patch should be considered as your requests can be small AND Patch will throw an error if that file is not found, which can be really important. PUT on the other hand would need larger transmission sets, and will ensure that always only a single file results in the request. So if you have a file thats called data.json at the end of the transmission, PUT will always make sure there is a single file of that name at the end and anything looking to process that file afterward will always be able to find it.
Choosing between PATCH and PUT depends on what we want to achieve with our update operation. If we want to replace the whole resource, we should use PUT. If we want to modify only some aspects of the resource, we should use PATCH. This way, we can communicate our intention clearly and avoid unintended consequences. Using PATCH and PUT correctly is important because it helps us follow the principles of RESTful design, which aim to make our APIs more consistent, predictable and easy to use. It also helps us avoid errors and conflicts that may arise from using the wrong method for the wrong purpose. By respecting the semantics of PATCH and PUT, we can improve the quality and reliability of our APIs.
PUT: Update the whole resource PATCH: Update a specific field inside a resource When we send a "PUT" request to a resource endpoint, we typically send the entire updated representation of the resource in the request body. When we send a "PATCH" request, we provide a partial representation of the resource with only the fields that need to be updated
PATCH is a more flexible and granular method for updating resources, but it requires careful implementation to avoid security risks and compatibility issues. PUT is a simpler and more standardized method, but it can be less efficient and less flexible in some scenarios. The choice between PATCH and PUT depends on the specific requirements and constraints of your application.
Using PATCH has some advantages over using PUT for updating resources. First, it can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred between the client and the server, which can improve the performance and efficiency of the web application. Second, it can avoid overwriting or losing data that may have been changed by another client or process, since it only modifies the fields that are specified in the request. Third, it can allow more flexibility and granularity in updating resources, since it can support different types of patch formats, such as JSON Patch or JSON Merge Patch.
? Granularity: PATCH allows you to update only the fields that have changed in the resource, which can be more efficient than updating the entire resource with PUT. ? Flexibility: PATCH allows you to update a resource using any format you want, including JSON, XML, or plain text. ? Partial updates: PATCH can be used to update a subset of a resource, which can be useful when you want to avoid overwriting other changes made to the resource.
However, using PATCH also has some drawbacks. First, it can increase the complexity and difficulty of implementing and testing the web API, since it requires the server to parse and apply the patch format correctly, and handle any errors or conflicts that may arise. Second, it can introduce some security and validation issues, since it may allow clients to modify fields that should not be changed, or bypass some constraints or checks that may be enforced by the server. Third, PATCH can create some inconsistency and confusion in the web API, since it may not be supported by all servers or clients, or may not follow the same patch format or semantics.
Not unless you are updating specific fields where then PATCH will come in handy, PUT is equally a better alternative where you receive the posted request and sieve through and make partial or full object update
Deciding whether to use PATCH or PUT for updating resources is not an easy answer, as it depends on the context and requirements of the web application and the web API. As a general rule, PATCH should be used when partial updates are desired and performance, concurrency, or flexibility is a concern. On the other hand, PUT can be used when the entire resource needs to be replaced and simplicity, consistency, or security is a priority.
Switch off all verbs except GET and POST. Handle the other verb functions another way. Far too exposed allowing verbs like this unless you want to manage every possible hacking technique out there.
Not very helpful, I thought this was going to propose a way to PATCH entities uniformly. Does anyone really not know what was in the article? They only line worth mentioning is "Third, it can create some inconsistency and confusion in the web API, since it may not be supported by all servers or clients, or may not follow the same patch format or semantics" "introduce some security and validation issues, since it may allow clients to modify fields that should not be changed" is silly since PUT has the same problem and the body needs to be validated on the same way. Was this straight out of ChatGPT?