Unit_14-Rest-JSON

01 - JSON

• Created JsonExample.java and broke down how JSON looks and how it is structured.
• JSON is based on Key Value pairs
• Objects are represented by curly brackets {}
• Arrays are represented by square brackets []

02 - Converting JSON Strings to Java and Back

• Downloading someone else's code. In this case it's within our Spring-Boot Maven project (Jackson databind).
• Task: Take a Java Object and convert it into a JSON String and then visa versa
  • Used Jackson databind to perform the local lifecycle of a JSON String, modify the JSON, and ouput the JSON String

03 - Sending Data to Java via Post Request

• Learned to pass data from a web request, using Postman
• Put @RequestParam's within the createPerson class.
  • Made gender optional by adding @RequestParam(required = false)
• Status: 200 OK
• Doing it this way we sent name, age, and gender via Query Params through the ULR
• Doing this exposes our data
  • Pros: Quick and easy, stateless, and there's no need for session management
  • Cons: Security risks, data size limitations, caching issues, and unpleasant user experience

04 - Omitting RequestParam Annotation

• Removed the @RequestParam annotations within the createPerson class
• Class still successfully runs and returns us our object as it did before within the URL
• Feature of doing it this way is that you can not specify required fields.
  • Doing it this way, none of the fields within the createPerson class are required.
  • So if you leave out age it's totally fine and returns age as null
• Status: 200 OK

05 - Request Header and Body

• Learning the difference between sending data via URL and sending data within the Body of the request via POST
  • GET Request: Getting data from the server to HTML
  • POST Request: Sending data from HTML to the server (using the Body of the Post request to send the data)

06 - Path Variables

• Sending path variables through GET request using Postman

07 - Mocking a Repository

• Come back to

08 - Rest Calls with Spring

• Went to Alpha Vantage to play with their free API Key
• Reviewed their documentation

09 - Mapping JSON Response to Java Objects