When you initiate an ATG REST MVC service, you send a URL. The URL must be explicitly defined and registered with the REST Web Services. If registered, as outlined in the Enabling REST Services section, the URL references controllers, which are known as actors. Each actor, which is configured using XML definition files, interfaces with a resource, such as a JSP page, a form handler, a servlet bean, a Nucleus component or another chain of actors, or actor-chains.

These actors generate a ModelMap, which can be filtered and transformed as necessary. The ModelMap is a map of maps that is populated by actors. The response that is rendered is based on the content the ModelMap has generated. ModelMap instances are created by the ModelMapFactory.

Each time that an actor is invoked, an ActorContext is passed into the actor. An ActorContext, which is created by an ActorContextFactory, is a map of attributes that are relevant to the context in which an actor is involved.

REST resolves Nucleus components using the ActorChainService, which uses an XML definition file to define both the chains of actors to execute, and the order in which they must be executed.

Once all the actors have generated their model data, bean filters are applied to the data. Then the response generator uses the ModelMap to generate a JSON or XML response.