Question

So I have a RESTful api module which has several resources. I am trying to figure out what should be the correct HTTP status code in a situation when a user makes PUT request on a resource but without identifying a specific resource with an id.

Let’s say:

PUT http://example.com/api/resource

I only allow PUT requests on specific resource such as:

PUT http://example.com/api/resource/1234

What HTTP response should I return?

Answer 1

In that case I usually return 405 together with the Allow-Header to show which methods are allowed

405 Method Not Allowed

The method specified in the Request-Line is not allowed for the
resource identified by the Request-URI. The response MUST include an
Allow header containing a list of valid methods for the requested
resource.