Red Hat Summit4.5. RESTful Service Description Language (RSDL)
RESTful Service Description Language (RSDL) provides a description of the structure and elements in the REST API in one whole XML specification. Invoke the RSDL using the following request.
GET /api?rsdl HTTP/1.1 Accept: application/xml
This produces an XML document in the following format:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<rsdl href="/api?rsdl" rel="rsdl">
<description>...</description>
<version major="3" minor="1" build="0" revision="0"/>
<schema href="/api?schema" rel="schema">
<name>...</name>
<description>...</description>
</schema>
<links>
<link href="/api/capabilities" rel="get">
...
</link>
...
</links>
</rsdl>
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
description | A plain text description of the RSDL document. |
version | The API version, including major release, minor release, build and revision. |
schema | A link to the XML schema (XSD) file. |
links | Defines each link in the API. |
Each
link element contains the following a structure:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<rsdl href="/api?rsdl" rel="rsdl">
...
<links>
<link href="/api/..." rel="...">
<request>
<http_method>...</http_method>
<headers>
<header>
<name>...</name>
<value>...</value>
</header>
...
</headers>
<body>
<type>...</type>
<parameters_set>
<parameter required="..." type="...">
<name>...</name>
</parameter>
...
</parameters_set>
</body>
</request>
<response>
<type>...</type>
</response>
</link>
...
</links>
</rsdl>
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
link | A URI for API requests. Includes a URI attribute (href) and a relationship type attribute (rel). |
request | Defines the request properties required for the link. |
http_method | The method type to access this link. Includes the standard HTTP methods for REST API access: GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. |
headers | Defines the headers for the HTTP request. Contains a series of header elements, which each contain a header name and value to define the header. |
body | Defines the body for the HTTP request. Contains a resource type and a parameter_set, which contains a sets of parameter elements with attributes to define whether they are required for a request and the data type. The parameter element also includes a name element to define the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager property to modify and also a further parameter_set subset if type is set to collection. |
response | Defines the output for the HTTP request. Contains a type element to define the resource structure to output. |
Use the RSDL in your applications as a method to map all links and parameter requirements for controlling a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment.
