Microsoft has released REST service in SharePoint 2013. As a SharePoint solution architect/developer you will be having more than one option to manipulate SharePoint data in your client applications.
With the REST interface in SharePoint 2013, folks are asking about what are the differences? And what are the benefits over each other? I will list all my insights in points in this blog post.
1) One of the main differences between Client Object Model API (COM) than REST API that it requires SharePoint Client assemblies that's only available for .NET technologies. While using the REST API doesn't require any .NET assemblies to be referenced in your client application but use any programming language to execute standard HTTP requests. For example: use the REST API to access SharePoint 2013 from your PHP website or iPhone/Android App.
2) What if I
want to consume SharePoint 2013 data with Mobile Applications?
If you are
planning to consume SharePoint 2013 data through using iOS or Android devices,
then the REST API is the way to go. While if you are developing SharePoint 2013
solution on a windows phone 8 then still you have 2 options either REST or
Client Object Model while I recommend to go with the REST for portability
and code-reuse purposes specially if you plan to have different version of
your application in iOS & Android platforms.
3) Benefits
of using REST over COM in Mobile apps? The size of your application will be
smaller when you use REST since you don’t need to add any assemblies in your
App.
4) What about
Windows 8 Apps? If you are developing HTML5 & JavaScript Windows 8 App this
requires using the REST API in SharePoint 2013.
5) How do
you Access SharePoint 2013 REST API?
The REST API
is a WCF services hosted on the SharePoint Application server and has HTTP endpoint;
you can access it through the following URL:
If you want
to access a site collection: http://MySite/site/_api/
If you want
to access a web site: http://MySite/site/_api/web/
To do the
basic CRUD operations, check out this article:
“Get started
with the SharePoint 2013 REST service”
“Using the
SharePoint 2013 REST service”
6) When you
read the above MSDN articles, the sample requires you to get an access token to
access SharePoint 2013 REST API, Is there an alternative?
The answer
is yes, you can access the
REST API without getting an access token by using the Cross-Domain
JavaScript Library. Here is your complete reference to code this.
7) The REST
API is not just available for Site Collections and Site scope CRUD operations
but it is also available on BCS, Search, and Social Features in SharePoint
2013. Check out these urls:
a) Using BCS REST service:
b) Using Search REST service:
c) Using Social Features REST service:
As a solution
Architect and Web guy, I’m so excited with the SharePoint 2013 REST API. It is
a great shift to the web standards and to eliminate the boundaries to integrate
SharePoint with Non-Microsoft platforms and tools.
I see this
API will be primarily and heavily used by Mobile Developers and System
integrators toward SharePoint Hybrid Solutions.
Hope this
helps.
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