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curl -s -H "Accept: application/xml" http://localhost:8080/rest/communities | xmllint --format - 

Example usage from command line in JSON format with pretty printing:

curl -s -H "Accept: application/json" http://localhost:8080/rest/communities | python -m json.tool

For this documentation, we will assume that the URL to the "REST" webapp will be http://localhost:8080/rest/ for production systems, this address will be slightly different, such as: https://demo.dspace.org/rest/. The path to an endpoint, will go after the /rest/, such as /rest/communities, all-together this is: http://localhost:8080/rest/communities

Another thing to note is that there are Query Parameters that you can tack on to the end of an endpoint to do extra things. The most commonly used one in this API is "?expand". Instead of every API call defaulting to giving you every possible piece of information about it, it only gives a most commonly used set by default and gives the more "expensive" information when you deliberately request it. Each endpoint will provide a list of available expands in the output, but for getting started, you can start with ?expand=all, to make the endpoint provide all of its information (parent objects, metadata, child objects). You can include multiple expands, such as: ?expand=collections,subCommunities .

Index

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Login to the REST API using a DSpace EPerson (user). It returns a JSESSIONID cookie, that can be used for future authenticated requests.

Example Request:

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Pagination

DSpace 6.x supports pagination by allowing two query parameters: limit and offset. Note however that the aggregate results number is not supplied (see DS-3887). Endpoints which return arrays of objects, such as /communities, /collections or /items, are "paginated":  the full list is broken into "pages" which start at offset from the beginning of the list and contain at most limit elements.  By repeated queries you can retrieve any portion of the array or all of it.  The default value of offset  is 0 and the default value of limit is 100.  So, as an example, to retrieve the sixth through tenth elements of the full list of Collections, you could do this:

curl -s -H "Accept: application/json" http://localhost:8080/rest/collections?offset=5\&limit=5

Index / Authentication

# Can use either POST or GET (POST recommended). Must pass the parameters "email" and "password".
curl -v -X POST --data "email=admin@dspace.org&password=mypass" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/login

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8; Path=/rest/; Secure; HttpOnly

curl -v --cookie "JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/status
# This should return <authenticated>true</authenticated>, and information about the authenticated user session

curl -v -L -c cookiejar "https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/shibboleth-login"

curl -v "http://localhost:8080/dspace-rest/status" --cookie "JSESSIONID=0633C6379266A283E53F65DF8EF61AB9"

curl -v -X POST --cookie "JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/logout

curl -v --cookie "JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/status
# This should show <authenticated>false</authenticated>

curl https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/test

REST api is running.

curl -v --cookie "JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/status

curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" --cookie "JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8" https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/status

{
  "okay":true,
  "authenticated":true,
  "email":"admin@dspace.org",
  "fullname":"DSpace Administrator",
  "sourceVersion":"6.0",
  "apiVersion":"6"
}

Shibboleth Apache configuration for the REST API

Before Shibboleth authentication for the REST API will work, you need to secure the /rest/shibboleth-login endpoint. Add this configuration section to your Apache HTTPD Shibboleth configuration:

<Location "/rest/shibboleth-login">
         AuthType shibboleth
         ShibRequireSession On
         # Please note that setting ShibUseHeaders to "On" is a potential security risk. 
         # You may wish to set it to "Off". See the mod_shib docs for details about this setting:
         # https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/NativeSPApacheConfig#NativeSPApacheConfig-AuthConfigOptions
         # Here's a good guide to configuring Apache + Tomcat when this setting is "Off": 
         # https://www.switch.ch/de/aai/support/serviceproviders/sp-access-rules.html#javaapplications
         ShibUseHeaders On
         require valid-user
</Location>

You can test your configuration in 3 different ways:

Example Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=6B98CF8648BCE57DCD99689FE77CB1B8; Path=/rest/; Secure; HttpOnly

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1. Using a web browser:
   1. Go to https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/shibboleth-login, this should redirect you to the login

...

1. 1. page of your IdP if you don't have a Shibboleth session yet.
   2. Enter your test credentials and this should take you back to the /rest/shibboleth-login URL. You should then see a blank page but in the response headers, the JSESSIONID cookie should be present.
   3. Then go to /rest/status and you should see information on the current authenticated ePerson.
2. Using curl without a Shibboleth Session
   1. Call the REST Shibboleth login point with a Cookie jar: 

1. 1. 
      

      Code Block
      curl -v -

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Invalid email/password combinations will receive an HTTP 401 Unauthorized response.

Please note, special characters need to be HTTP URL encoded.
For example, an email address like dspacedemo+admin@gmail.com (notice the + special character) would need to be encoded as dspacedemo%2Badmin@gmail.com.

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Logout from the REST API, by providing a JSESSIONID cookie. After being posted this cookie will no longer work.

1. 1. L -c cookiejar "https://dspace.myu.edu/rest/shibboleth-login"

      



   2. This should take you again to the IdP login page. You can submit this form using curl using the same cookie jar. However this is IdP dependant so I cannot provide an example here.
   3. Once you submit the form using curl, you should be taken back to the /rest/shibboleth-login URL which will return you the JSESSIONID.

   4. Using that JSESSIONID, check if you have authenticated successfully: 

...

1. 1. Code Block
      curl -v

...

1. 1. "

...

1. 1. https://dspace.myu

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After posting a logout request, cookie is invalidated and the "/status" path should show you as unauthenticated (even when passing that same cookie). For example:

...

1. 1. .edu/dspace-rest/status" --cookie "JSESSIONID=

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Invalid token will result in HTTP 400 Invalid Request

1. 1. 0633C6379266A283E53F65DF8EF61AB9"

      
      

2. Using curl with a Shibboleth Session (cookie)
   1. When you post the Shibboleth login form, the Shibboleth daemon on the DSpace server also returns you a Shibboleth Cookie. This cookie looks like _shibsession_64656661756c74687... You can also grab this cookie from your browser.

   2. Double check that the cookie you took is valid

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Returns string "REST api is running", for testing that the API is up.

...

1. 1. :

      Code Block
      curl -v 'https://dspace

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Example Response:

REST api is running.

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Receive information about the currently authenticated user token, or the API itself (e.g. version information).

1. 1. -url/Shibboleth.sso/Session' -H 'Cookie: _shibsession_64656661756c7468747470733a2f2f7265706f7369746f72792e636172646966666d65742e61632e756b2f73686962626f6c657468=_a8d3ad20d8b655250c7357f7ac0e2910;'

      
      

   2. This should give you information if the Shibboleth session is valid and on the number of attributes. 

   3. Use this cookie to obtain a Tomcat JSESSIONID

...

1. 1. :

      Code Block
      curl -v

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1. 1. 'https://dspace

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1. 1. -url/rest/

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Example Request (JSON):

...

1. 1. shibboleth-login' -H

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Example JSON Response:

1. 1. 'Cookie: _shibsession_64656661756c7468747470733a2f2f7265706f7369746f72792e636172646966666d65742e61632e756b2f73686962626f6c657468=_a8d3ad20d8b655250c7357f7ac0e2910;'

      
      

   2. Use the returned JSESSIONID to check if you have authenticated successfully:

      Code Block
      curl -v "http://dspace-url/rest/status" --cookie "JSESSIONID=0633C6379266A283E53F65DF8EF61AB9"

...

Communities

Communities in DSpace are used for organization and hierarchy, and are containers that hold sub-Communities and Collections. (ex: Department of Engineering)

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Here are all of the data types, not all fields are necessary or supported when posting/putting content, but the output contains this information:

Community Object

{"id":456,"name":"Reports Community","handle":"10766/10213","type":"community","link":"/rest/communities/456","expand":["parentCommunity","collections","subCommunities","logo","all"],"logo":null,"parentCommunity":null,"copyrightText":"","introductoryText":"","shortDescription":"Collection contains materials pertaining to the Able Family","sidebarText":"","countItems":3,"subcommunities":[],"collections":[]}

Collection Object

{"id":730,"name":"Annual Reports Collection","handle":"10766/10214","type":"collection","link":"/rest/collections/730","expand":["parentCommunityList","parentCommunity","items","license","logo","all"],"logo":null,"parentCommunity":null,"parentCommunityList":[],"items":[],"license":null,"copyrightText":"","introductoryText":"","shortDescription":"","sidebarText":"","numberItems":3}

Item Object

{"id":14301,"name":"2015 Annual Report","handle":"123456789/13470","type":"item","link":"/rest/items/14301","expand":["metadata","parentCollection","parentCollectionList","parentCommunityList","bitstreams","all"],"lastModified":"2015-01-12 15:44:12.978","parentCollection":null,"parentCollectionList":null,"parentCommunityList":null,"bitstreams":null,"archived":"true","withdrawn":"false"}

Bitstream Object

{"id":47166,"name":"appearance and physiology 100 percent copied from wikipedia.pdf","handle":null,"type":"bitstream","link":"/rest/bitstreams/47166","expand":["parent","policies","all"],"bundleName":"ORIGINAL","description":"","format":"Adobe PDF","mimeType":"application/pdf","sizeBytes":129112,"parentObject":null,"retrieveLink":"/bitstreams/47166/retrieve","checkSum":{"value":"62778292a3a6dccbe2662a2bfca3b86e","checkSumAlgorithm":"MD5"},"sequenceId":1,"policies":null}

ResourcePolicy Object

[{"id":317127,"action":"READ","epersonId":-1,"groupId":0,"resourceId":47166,"resourceType":"bitstream","rpDescription":null,"rpName":null,"rpType":"TYPE_INHERITED","startDate":null,"endDate":null}]

MetadataEntry Object

{"key":"dc.description.abstract", "value":"This is the description abstract", "language": null}

User Object

{"email":"test@dspace.org","password":"pass"}

Status Object

{"okay":true,"authenticated":true,"email":"test@dspace.org","fullname":"DSpace Test User","token":"6d45daaa-7b02-4ae7-86de-a960838fae5c"}

Introduction to Jersey for developers

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Configuration for DSpace REST

Recording Proxy Access by Tools

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