How to send “parameters” to all HTTP request methods?

Question

I'm trying to write a Java client (with Apache HttpClient ) for the Gengo API which makes use of HTTP GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. However for every RESTful API "method" that they expose, you must pass your API key and signature as " parameters ".

Would this mean query string parameters, POST variables, key-value pair headers, or something else?

I guess I'm just confused by what is meant by the word "parameters" in the context of all these different HTTP request methods. In other words, how would I pass the API key as a "parameter" to their API when I could be using GET, POST, PUT or DELETE? My understanding was that only HTTP GET can handle query string params, and that HTTP POST can only handle POST variables. And I have never used PUT or DELETE before so I'm not sure what they require.

So I ask: what mechanism can I use to send the API key/signature via all 4 types of request methods, or do they all support the processing of query string parameters? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can try this. It works for my HttpClient application with POST request.

DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
httpClient.getParams().setParameter(name, value);
......

For Example, I set the connection timeout:

httpClient.getParams().setIntParameter(HttpConnectionParams.CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, httpTimeout);

Then later, to send(execute) the request:

HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute([My HttpPost instance was here, but I think you can use HttpGet, HttpPut, and HttpDelete here as well]);

Answer 2

All verbs can use request parameters (also known as query parameters) and they will be available to the server in the same way regardless of if you also send a body.

In your example (Gengo) there is a good example on there page about authentication .