A request is an action we send to interact with a web service, whether you are authenticating or interacting with the resource server. Working with requests is required if Iguana is acting as either the:

HTTP requests are made up of four parts. Take this example FHIR API request:

screenshot

The method indicates the action to be performed on a resource within the API. 

With Iguana’s net.http.* library, you can invoke different HTTP methods:  

  • net.http.get{} - query or retrieve resources.

  • net.http.post{} - to add or create a resource.

  • net.http.put{} - update an existing resource.

  • net.http.delete{} - remove a resource.

The URL defines where the client can access the desired resources - for example the Patient resource.  

For GET requests, the URL may also contain any necessary query parameters like the id of the patient you are searching for.  

The header includes metadata requirements defined by the API to provide information about the request. This can contain information such as: 

  • Connection and content types 

  • Authentication information like credentials or an access token

  • MIME types

  • Entity tags (ETAGS)

Some requests (PUT and POST) require a body where we add the resource content or additional information to be sent to the server. This can be in a few potential formats:

JSON

[{
    "patientid": "33751",
    "status": "active",
    "firstname": ”Bruce",
    "lastname": ”Wayne",
	...
}]

XML

<patient>
  <patientid>33751</patientid>
   <status>active</status>
   <firstname>Bruce</firstname>
   <lastname>Wayne</lastname>
</patient>

Query String format

patientid=33751&status=active&firstname=Bruce&lastname=Wayne