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Things developer does for REST API:

1. Customizing REST Endpoints and Controllers

  • Endpoint Design: Follow RESTful principles, ensuring that URIs represent resources and use appropriate HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.).
  • Controller Annotations: Use @RestController to define RESTful controllers and @RequestMapping or more specific annotations like @GetMapping, @PostMapping, etc., to map HTTP requests to handler methods.
  • Path Variables and Request Parameters: Use @PathVariable and @RequestParam to capture and process data from the URI and query parameters.
  • Request Body: Use @RequestBody to bind the HTTP request body to a Java object for POST and PUT requests.
  • Response Entity: Return ResponseEntity to have full control over the HTTP response, including status codes and headers.

2. Content Negotiation

  • Multiple Representations: Support different representations (JSON, XML) by configuring content negotiation.
  • Media Types: Use produces and consumes attributes in request mapping annotations to specify supported media types.

3. Request Validation and Formatting

  • Custom Validators: Create custom validation annotations and logic for request parameters and bodies.
  • Date and Time Formatting: Customize date and time formats in request and response bodies.
  • Validator library: <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId> <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId> <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>

4. Custom Exception Handling and Error Responses

  • Global Exception Handling: Use @ControllerAdvice along with @ExceptionHandler to handle exceptions globally and provide consistent error responses.
  • Custom Error Response Structure: Define a custom error response structure to return meaningful error messages and codes.
  • Validation Errors: Use @Valid to trigger validation and handle validation errors gracefully.

5. Request and Response Logging

  • Logging Interceptors: Implement interceptors to log incoming requests and outgoing responses for debugging and monitoring purposes.
  • Log Filters: Use filters to log request and response details conditionally, based on configurations.

6. Security

  • CORS Configuration: Configure CORS to allow or restrict cross-origin requests based on security policies.
  • Authentication and Authorization: Implement security mechanisms using Spring Security, including JWT (JSON Web Token) for stateless authentication.
  • CSRF Protection: Ensure protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Define roles and restrict access to endpoints based on roles.

7. Rate Limiting and Throttling

  • Rate Limiting Filters: Implement rate limiting to protect the API from abuse and ensure fair usage.
  • Throttling Policies: Define and apply throttling policies to control the rate of requests from clients.

8. API Documentation

  • Swagger/OpenAPI Integration: Use Swagger or Springdoc OpenAPI to generate interactive API documentation.
  • Annotations: Use Swagger annotations (@Api, @ApiOperation, etc.) to provide metadata for API documentation.

9. API Versioning

  • URI Versioning: Include version numbers in the URI (e.g., /api/v1/resource).
  • Header Versioning: Use custom headers to specify API versions.
  • Content Negotiation Versioning: Use the Accept header to specify version (e.g., application/vnd.example.v1+json).

10. Pagination and Sorting

  • Spring Data JPA: Utilize Spring Data JPA's built-in pagination and sorting capabilities.

  • Custom Pagination: Implement custom pagination logic if required.

11. HATEOAS (Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State)

  • Implementing HATEOAS: Use Spring HATEOAS to add hypermedia links to the API responses, enabling clients to navigate the API dynamically.
  • Resource Assemblers: Use ResourceAssembler classes to encapsulate the logic of creating resource representations with links.

12. Asynchronous Processing

  • Async Controllers: Use @Async and CompletableFuture to handle long-running requests asynchronously.
  • Deferred Results: Use DeferredResult or WebAsyncTask to return responses asynchronously.

13. Testing

  • Unit Tests: Write unit tests for controllers using MockMVC.
  • Integration Tests: Implement integration tests to verify the entire API flow.
  • API Contract Testing: Use tools like Postman or Pact to ensure API contracts are met.

14. Handling File Uploads and Downloads

  • MultipartFile: Use MultipartFile to handle file uploads.
  • Streaming Responses: Stream large files to clients to manage memory efficiently.
  • By customizing these aspects, you can create a robust, secure, and scalable REST API tailored to your specific needs.