Glossary
API
Application Programming Interface, a type of web service. It provides a way of communicating with a particular computer program or internet service, such as the interfaces between Brand Compliance and other systems, by exchanging data as XML files.
DELETE
A web service call used to delete an existing resource (not generally used in the APIs exposed in Brand Compliance).
GET
A web service call used to retrieve data without modifying it, for example, to request details of specifications.
HEAD
Identical to GET except that the server does not return a message-body in the response. The header information retrieved is the same as for a GET request and obtains meta-information without transferring the entity-body itself.
HTTP
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, an application protocol used as the foundation for data communication on the World Wide Web.
HTTPS
Communication over Hyper Text Transfer Protocol which is protected with an additional security layer. Used to authenticate the site visited and protect the exchanged data.
oneTimePad
A secure encryption technique which uses a string of randomly generated numbers to produce a key for encoding and decoding a message. Both the sender and receiver of the message have a copy of the key and each key (or section of the key) is used only once.
POST
A web service call used to create new resources, for example, to create a new supplier or new user record.
PUT
A web service call used to update an existing resource, for example, to update/amend an existing supplier or user record.
REST / RESTful
Representational State Transfer, an architectural style consisting of a coordinated set of architectural constraints applied to components, connectors, and data elements, within a distributed system.
In Brand Compliance, most new services or new versions of services will use RESTful architecture.
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol, an XML-based protocol for exchanging data over HTTP. In Brand Compliance, SOAP services are developed for specific, definite requirements or tend to be associated with historical services.
URI
Uniform Resource Identifier, a string of characters used to identify the name of a resource and enable it to be accessed over a network such as the World Wide Web. A common example of a URI is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), or web address.
WADL
Web Application Description Language, an XML-based interface description language for describing the functionality offered by a RESTful web service.
WSDL
Web Services Description Language, an XML-based interface description language for describing the functionality offered by a SOAP web service.