Recommended REST API design for transferring amount

Question

I want to design a REST API given the following data model :

Accounts

UserId |  Balance 

user1  |   500
user2  |   200

And given the following Ui that must use the REST service for it's operation for a transfer of funds.

What would be the best way of designing the api for this data model that must also support the transfer UI action?

(URL, HTTP method , body ?)

TanguyB · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-19 09:44:04Z

3

I would use a POST as method.

The endpoint would be /api/controllerName/Transfer

And the body would look like this

{
    "from": 123,
    "to": 456,
    "amount": 789
}

from and tobeing user id's, or other identification for the user.

amount being your amount.

answered Sep 19, 2017 at 9:44

TanguyB

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and just hope floats are good for monetary values
– Ewan
Sep 19, 2017 at 9:56
2

To be clear, in a RESTful architecture, "Transfer" in this case is a noun. You are posting a transfer, which is a resource in its own right and which can later be viewed, etc. This is probably what you want anyway, I'm just clarifying because "transfer" can also be a verb. In fact, I'd probably clarify the API more by making the endpoint be '/api/transfers'
– Paul
Sep 19, 2017 at 11:03
@Ewan so far we've only seen integers discussed.
– Paul
Sep 19, 2017 at 11:05
2

@Ewan isn't that kind of out of context ?
– TanguyB
Sep 19, 2017 at 11:53
1

The main question is how to design the api, not what types he should use. I'm pretty sure his models / prerequisites for them are already stated somewhere. I just added numbers as an example.
– TanguyB
Sep 19, 2017 at 14:16

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