Video: Use the REST API in Java

You can use the REST API in an application written in Java using Oracle JDeveloper as your development environment. Let's look at an example for creating a Contact object using Java.

Note:

Do not use the code shown in this example in a production environment.

To create a Contact object using Java:

1. Create a java file.
2. Import the classes you need in the java file. For example:

   import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
   import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
   import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
   import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
   import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
   import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
   import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
   

3. Open Properties and go to the Libraries and Classpath section to see the jar files needed to access these classes. For example:
   • Commons-logging-1.2.jar
   • Httpclient-4.5.2.zip
   • Httpcore-4.4.4.jar
   • Commons-codec-1.9.jar
4. Start the main method of your application program by instantiating a client that can make HTTP calls. For example:

   HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create().build();

5. Create an HttpPost request to create a new item on the server. For example:

   HttpPost request = new HttpPost("https://Admin1:[e-mail]/services/rest/connect/latest/contacts");

   Note:

   The request does not contain the ID for the Contact object because it will be created on the server and returned in the response.
6. Create a StringEntity object that holds the JSON data for the new contact object. For example:

   StringEntity params = new StringEntity ("{\"name\":{\"first\":\"Carol\",\"last\":\"Master\"},\"emails\":[{\"address\":\"[e-mail]\",\"addressType\":{\"id\":0, \"invalid\":false]}]");

   It is recommended that you use the StringEntity object for sending the body of a REST HTTP request.

   Note:

   The Oracle B2C Service REST API documentation describes the minimum fields that are required on a given operation for a given object and how to create the JSON.
7. Add a request header to indicate the content type and set the StringEntity 'params' as the request body. For example:

   request.addHeader("content-type","text/plain");
   request.setEntity(params);
   

8. Execute the request and extract the response body, which holds the ID of the newly-created object. Convert the extracted response body to string and display it on the screen. For example:

   HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(request)
   HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
   String content = EntityUtils.toString(entity);
   System.out.println(content);
   

9. Save and close the java file.
10. Go to the Agent Desktop to verify that the new object does not exist.
11. Run your Java application and view the output, which includes the returned ID of the contact you just created. For example:

    "id":14,
    "lookupName": "Carol Master",
    

12. Refresh your Agent Desktop, locate and open the newly created record, and verify that the Contact ID for the record is same as the ID shown in the Java application.