General standards and guidelines
This section provides standards and guidelines for working with the REST API specification in ALM Octane.
Standards
The principles guiding the specification follow the basic REST guidelines were introduced by Roy Fielding. For details, see Representational State Transfer (REST).
These are the guidelines that are required for implementing REST over HTTP. These guidelines are adapted to ALM Octane. Note, however, that the guidelines follow the standard.
Guidelines
Platforms and languages | Applications can be written in any language and on any platform that support REST. For details about REST, see Representational state transfer. |
Data formats |
The API supports only application/json representation both on request and response. Data is submitted and returned in the JSON format, unless otherwise specified in the reference for a resource. This API uses the ECMA 404 Specification. |
Communication and security |
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Request URIs sent by an application must be URL-encoded. For details about URL encoding, see IETF: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax. For details, see URIs. |
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Headers |
When sending data, always send a Content-Type header to specify the type of data being sent from the client to the server. The Content-Type header should be application/json, including when authenticating. Do not send a Content-Type header, unless content is sent. Always send an Accept header to specify the format of the data to receive from the server. For details, see Performing requests. |
Resend cookies |
In any request you send to the server, return all cookies sent by the server in the preceding response using the "Set-Cookie" header. See http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265. Failing to resend cookies can result in authentication expiration while the user is interacting with the REST API service. For details, see Session management and expiration. |
Time data |
Time data is saved in the database in UTC format. The REST API is unable to convert the UTC time to the local time. Therefore, the UI client converts the UTC format to the global user's local time. REST API consumers should do the same with the time data. |
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