Using REST for Content CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete)

2sxc 7.1 offers new, full REST support to get, create, update and delete content. Rest is basically a simple way to target a content-item with a URL and either read, write, delete etc.

The principle is very simple: use an HTTP-Verb like GET, POST, DELETE to access a resource. Example

• GET .../app-content/Feedback
  will return all feedback items
• GET .../app-content/Feedback/243
  will return the feedback item 243
• POST .../app-content/Feedback
  with data like { Subject: "I love your product", Message: "Tried 2sxc, love it" }
  will create a new feedback item in the content-database
• POST .../app-content/Feedback/243
  with data like { Subject: "Updated Subject"}
  will update the subject field and leave the rest untouched
• DELETE .../app-content/Feedback/243
  will delete this content item

So what do you need to know to get started?

1. By default the REST API only works for users who have at least Admin-permissions. To enable it for anybody else, you need to set the appropriate permissions. 
2. The root URL of the API can change from system to system. There is an easy way to get the right path.
3. DNN increases the security of WebAPI with something called a ServiceFramework. This ensures that only your modules can access the API and other, external sources can't. You need to know how to work with this. 
4. If you've never used REST APIs before you will probably need some examples how to code the JavaScript using jQuery or AngularJS

Let's get started!