object-api/v1/section_object-api-response-formats.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE section [
<!-- Useful for describing APIs -->
<!ENTITY GET '<command xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">GET</command>'>
]>
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
    xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" version="5.0"
    xml:id="serialized-response-formats">
    <title>Serialized response formats</title>
    <para>By default, the Object Storage API uses a
            <literal>text/plain</literal> response format. In
        addition, both JSON and XML data serialization response
        formats are supported.</para>
    <note>
        <para>To run the cURL command examples, you must export <link
                linkend="env-vars">environment
                variables</link>.</para>
    </note>
    <para>To define the response format, use one of these
        methods:</para>
    <informaltable rules="all">
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Method</th>
                <th>Description</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr>
                <td><para><code>format=<replaceable>format</replaceable></code>
                        query parameter</para></td>
                <td>
                    <para>Append this parameter to the URL for a &GET;
                        request, where
                            <replaceable>format</replaceable> is
                            <code>json</code> or
                        <code>xml</code>.</para>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td><para><literal>Accept</literal> request
                        header</para></td>
                <td>
                    <para>Include this header in the &GET; request.
                        The valid header values are:</para>
                    <itemizedlist>
                        <listitem>
                            <para><code>text/plain</code>. Plain text
                                response format. The default.</para>
                        </listitem>
                        <listitem>
                            <para><code>application/json</code>. JSON
                                data serialization response
                                format.</para>
                        </listitem>
                        <listitem>
                            <para><code>application/xml</code> or
                                   <code>text/xml</code>. XML data
                                serialization response format.</para>
                        </listitem>
                    </itemizedlist>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
    </informaltable>
    <example>
        <title>JSON example with format query parameter</title>
        <para>For example, this request uses the
                <parameter>format</parameter> query parameter to ask
            for a JSON response:</para>
        <screen><prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>curl -i $publicURL?format=json -X GET -H "X-Auth-Token: $token"</userinput></screen>
        <screen><computeroutput>HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 96
X-Account-Object-Count: 1
X-Timestamp: 1389453423.35964
X-Account-Meta-Subject: Literature
X-Account-Bytes-Used: 14
X-Account-Container-Count: 2
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Accept-Ranges: bytes
X-Trans-Id: tx274a77a8975c4a66aeb24-0052d95365
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:59:33 GMT</computeroutput></screen>
        <para>Object Storage lists container names with additional
            information in JSON format:</para>
        <programlisting language="json">[
   {
      "count":0,
      "bytes":0,
      "name":"janeausten"
   },
   {
      "count":1,
      "bytes":14,
      "name":"marktwain"
   }
]</programlisting>
    </example>
    <example>
        <title>XML example with Accept header</title>
        <para>This request uses the <literal>Accept</literal> request
            header to ask for an XML response:</para>
        <screen><prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>curl -i $publicURL -X GET -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "Accept: application/xml; charset=utf-8"</userinput></screen>
        <screen><computeroutput>HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 263
X-Account-Object-Count: 3
X-Account-Meta-Book: MobyDick
X-Timestamp: 1389453423.35964
X-Account-Bytes-Used: 47
X-Account-Container-Count: 2
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8
Accept-Ranges: bytes
X-Trans-Id: txf0b4c9727c3e491694019-0052e03420
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 21:12:00 GMT</computeroutput></screen>
        <para>Object Storage lists container names with additional
            information in XML format:</para>
        <programlisting language="xml">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
&lt;account name="AUTH_73f0aa26640f4971864919d0eb0f0880">
    &lt;container>
        &lt;name>janeausten&lt;/name>
        &lt;count>2&lt;/count>
        &lt;bytes>33&lt;/bytes>
    &lt;/container>
    &lt;container>
        &lt;name>marktwain&lt;/name>
        &lt;count>1&lt;/count>
        &lt;bytes>14&lt;/bytes>
    &lt;/container>
&lt;/account></programlisting>
        <para>The remainder of the examples in this guide use
            standard, non-serialized responses. However, all &GET;
            requests that perform list operations accept the
                <parameter>format</parameter> query parameter or
                <literal>Accept</literal> request header.</para>
    </example>
</section>