Question

I am trying to access a REST web service using HTTP GET request.

For a example following URI provides Rest web service that return all the available parts for the given category.

http://localhost:8080/mycompany/parts/category

I want to authenticate/authorize users who are accessing above REST request in each time and I want to pass User authentication details (User Name and Token) with the HTTP Get Request.

Is there a possibility to cater to the above requirement in REST HTTP GET request (using HTTP header or query parameters)?

or

Is it better to use HTTP POST instead of HTTP GET?

Answer 1

Since you are getting information, you should use “Get”. Here’s the code that I use (it is Restlet based) for adding the oauth_token to the request…

import org.restlet.data.Reference;
import org.restlet.ext.oauth.OAuthUser;
import org.restlet.representation.Representation;
import org.restlet.resource.ClientResource;

Reference commitsRef = new Reference(Consts.RESOURCE_BASE + "commitments/"); 
OAuthUser u = (OAuthUser) request.getClientInfo().getUser();
String token = u.getAccessToken();  
ref.addQueryParameter("oauth_token", token);
ClientResource commitsResource = new ClientResource(getContext(), commitsRef);
Representation commitsRep = commitsResource.get();

As mentioned, this is Restlet based, but there is probably something similar in the framework you are using. (And if you are not using a framework, Restlet can make this easier).