I want to set up some basic REST services for my XPage application. So I added the xe:restService control on an xpage and choose the xe:customRestService where I refer to a Java class:
<xe:restService id="restService1" pathInfo="json" state="false">
<xe:this.service>
<xe:customRestService contentType="application/json"
serviceBean="se.banking.desk.CustomSearchHelper">
</xe:customRestService>
</xe:this.service>
</xe:restService>
The CustomSearchHelper class it self is still pretty empty but I am wondering if I am on the right track?
Here is the code for the class:
package se.banking.desk;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import com.ibm.domino.services.ServiceException;
import com.ibm.domino.services.rest.RestServiceEngine;
import com.ibm.xsp.extlib.component.rest.CustomService;
import com.ibm.xsp.extlib.component.rest.CustomServiceBean;
public class CustomSearchHelper extends CustomServiceBean {
@Override
public void renderService(CustomService service, RestServiceEngine engine) throws ServiceException {
HttpServletRequest request = engine.getHttpRequest();
String method = request.getMethod();
HttpServletResponse response = engine.getHttpResponse();
response.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/javascript; charset=UTF-8");
if(method.equals("GET")){
this.get(engine);
}
else if(method.equals("POST")){
this.post(engine,request);
}
else{
this.other(engine);
}
}
public void get(RestServiceEngine engine){
HttpServletResponse response = engine.getHttpResponse();
try {
response.getWriter().write("get()");
response.getWriter().close();
return;
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void post(RestServiceEngine engine,HttpServletRequest request){
HttpServletResponse response = engine.getHttpResponse();
Map parameters = request.getParameterMap();
try {
response.getWriter().write("post()");
response.getWriter().write( request.getParameter("form"));
String[] form = (String[])parameters.get("form");
String val = form[0];
response.getWriter().write(val);
response.getWriter().close();
} catch (Exception e) {
// TODO: handle exception
}
}
public void other(RestServiceEngine engine){
HttpServletResponse response = engine.getHttpResponse();
try {
response.getWriter().write("other()");
response.getWriter().close();
return;
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Questions I have: Is this a good way to write a custom REST service? Are there alternatives? Where can I find more examples/information that start at the starter level?
As Eric pointed out there a different ways how to implement a REST service in XPages. Here is the link to my presentation about REST services from IBM Connect 2016. http://www.assono.de/blog/d6plinks/ibmconnect2016-ad1238
The presentation covers all the different ways except the OSGi plugin because this technique was a little bit heavy for a 1 hour session.
In the sample database all other ways are used. Just download the sample and open it in the Notes client. There is a welcome page to guide you to the code and the samples.
You are already on a good way.
You've asked a rather complex question, one which has been on my mind for the last couple of years. My assessment is that finding the "good way" comes down to the developer(s) and conventions used within the app. I've included links to sources of the alternatives I see available, a few mine, those of which attempted to tackle some of the concepts from the ground up, like my series on http servlets.
[Update]I've edited this answer to include some code examples, as there is always the possibility of links eventually not working; which should preserve the intent of the answer.[/Update]
Your implementation is a great example of how the xe:restService control can be easily bound to an XPage, with the wide variety of options available to use within the XPages runtime and Domino server.
So far as I can tell, there are about 5 unique(-ish) ways of implementing a RESTful API/endpoint for operation within an XPages context. In general order of ease of implementation (depending on the person):