REST is, as you're already aware, a way of communicating between a client and a server. However, the issue here is what is being defined as the "client". Personally, I tend to consider that the browser itself is not in itself the client: instead, the client is written in JavaScript, and the browser is merely a conduit to executing it.
Say for the sake of argument that you wish to view the details of user '1414'. The browser would be directed to the following location:
/UserDetails.html#1414
This would load the static file ViewUser.html
, containing all the form fields that may be necessary, as well as (via a <script>
tag) your JavaScript client. The client would load, look at the URL and make a RESTful call to:
GET /services/Users/1414
which would send back JSON data relating to that user. When the user then hits "save", the client would then make the following call:
PUT /services/Users/1414
to store the data.
In your example, you wanted to know how this would work with a new user. The URL that the browser would be directed to would be:
/UserDetails.html#0
(or #new
, or just #
- just something to tell the JavaScript that this is a new client. This isn't a RESTful URL so the precise details are irrelevant).
The browser would again load the static file ViewUser.html
and your JavaScript client, but this time no GET
would be made on the Users service - there is no user to download. In addition, when the user is saved, this time the call would be:
POST /services/Users/
with the service ideally returning a 302 to /services/Users/1541
- the location of the object created. Note that as this is handled in the client not the browser, no actual redirection occurs.