<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>fully.qualified.MainClass</mainClass>
</manifest>
</archive>
<descriptorRefs>
<descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
</descriptorRefs>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
and you run it with
mvn clean compile assembly:single
Compile goal should be added before assembly:single or otherwise the code on your own project is not included.
See more details in comments.
Commonly this goal is tied to a build phase to execute automatically. This ensures the JAR is built when executing mvn install
or performing a deployment/release.
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>fully.qualified.MainClass</mainClass>
</manifest>
</archive>
<descriptorRefs>
<descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
</descriptorRefs>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
<phase>package</phase> <!-- bind to the packaging phase -->
<goals>
<goal>single</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
I noticed this question a couple of days late, but I feel that I can add some insight. I hope this can be helpful towards your RESTful venture.
Point 1: Am I understanding it right?
You understood right. That is a correct representation of a RESTful architecture. You may find the following matrix from Wikipedia very helpful in defining your nouns and verbs:
When dealing with a Collection URI like: http://example.com/resources/
GET: List the members of the collection, complete with their member URIs for further navigation. For example, list all the cars for sale.
PUT: Meaning defined as "replace the entire collection with another collection".
POST: Create a new entry in the collection where the ID is assigned automatically by the collection. The ID created is usually included as part of the data returned by this operation.
DELETE: Meaning defined as "delete the entire collection".
When dealing with a Member URI like: http://example.com/resources/7HOU57Y
GET: Retrieve a representation of the addressed member of the collection expressed in an appropriate MIME type.
PUT: Update the addressed member of the collection or create it with the specified ID.
POST: Treats the addressed member as a collection in its own right and creates a new subordinate of it.
DELETE: Delete the addressed member of the collection.
Point 2: I need more verbs
In general, when you think you need more verbs, it may actually mean that your resources need to be re-identified. Remember that in REST you are always acting on a resource, or on a collection of resources. What you choose as the resource is quite important for your API definition.
Activate/Deactivate Login: If you are creating a new session, then you may want to consider "the session" as the resource. To create a new session, use POST to http://example.com/sessions/
with the credentials in the body. To expire it use PUT or a DELETE (maybe depending on whether you intend to keep a session history) to http://example.com/sessions/SESSION_ID
.
Change Password: This time the resource is "the user". You would need a PUT to http://example.com/users/USER_ID
with the old and new passwords in the body. You are acting on "the user" resource, and a change password is simply an update request. It's quite similar to the UPDATE statement in a relational database.
My instinct would be to do a GET call
to a URL like
/api/users/1/activate_login
This goes against a very core REST principle: The correct usage of HTTP verbs. Any GET request should never leave any side effect.
For example, a GET request should never create a session on the database, return a cookie with a new Session ID, or leave any residue on the server. The GET verb is like the SELECT statement in a database engine. Remember that the response to any request with the GET verb should be cache-able when requested with the same parameters, just like when you request a static web page.
Point 3: How to return error messages and codes
Consider the 4xx or 5xx HTTP status codes as error categories. You can elaborate the error in the body.
Failed to Connect to Database: / Incorrect Database Login: In general you should use a 500 error for these types of errors. This is a server-side error. The client did nothing wrong. 500 errors are normally considered "retryable". i.e. the client can retry the same exact request, and expect it to succeed once the server's troubles are resolved. Specify the details in the body, so that the client will be able to provide some context to us humans.
The other category of errors would be the 4xx family, which in general indicate that the client did something wrong. In particular, this category of errors normally indicate to the client that there is no need to retry the request as it is, because it will continue to fail permanently. i.e. the client needs to change something before retrying this request. For example, "Resource not found" (HTTP 404) or "Malformed Request" (HTTP 400) errors would fall in this category.
Point 4: How to do authentication
As pointed out in point 1, instead of authenticating a user, you may want to think about creating a session. You will be returned a new "Session ID", along with the appropriate HTTP status code (200: Access Granted or 403: Access Denied).
You will then be asking your RESTful server: "Can you GET me the resource for this Session ID?".
There is no authenticated mode - REST is stateless: You create a session, you ask the server to give you resources using this Session ID as a parameter, and on logout you drop or expire the session.
Best Answer
Yes. You have to send authentication/authorization data with every request. That's what'll prevent the server from 'remembering' who you are (i.e., stateless server, no sessions)
Let's ask a different question: What happens if the server restarts? Do you want all shopping cart data to get lost? Probably not. Implying you have to store it somewhere that it can survive a restart. Implying persistent storage. Could be on server or client...
...now, what if your client restarts? You could choose to create a shopping cart 'resource' for that user using a POST request (when the user adds the first item) or have it created the moment the client logs in (wasteful). Then you continue updating the shopping cart using PUT/DELETE and fetch it using GET.
Should it be in the DB? Could be, depends if that's how you want it to be. If it has to be persistent, it's a good place to keep it so it can survive a restart.
So how to receive client specific shopping cart? Well you just send a GET request for the resource!!! That's it! The first POST will create a resource at an appropriate URL and you can then use that.
Restful web services also have restful URLs so that's a key part of the design.
No. As mentioned above. But if you are using cookies or LocalStorage or some other information on the client side, then maybe you do.
Yes. It is simple but it takes a while to think in terms of 'resources' rather than 'services'. In restful design everything is (or can be) a resource, including transactions, shopping carts etc.,
However, authorization/authentication are part of the http request packet and is sent with every request. I suggest you read up on those.
BIG difference! Are you caching for performance or maintaining a session? If the system restarts will your system work seamlessly on an empty cache? If yes you are caching for performance else you are maintaining state.
I strongly suggest you read RESTful Web Services by Richardson & Ruby to edify the above concepts and glean more insight into how are restful services designed...it takes some getting used to.