HTTP Verbs

Just like the HTTP status codes, there are many more verbs in the HTTP standard that, although they are in theory OK to use for your Web API, you can get by with just a few that helps to keep your API simple, and self-explanatory to its clients.

The full list of HTTP verbs from the spec can be found HERE, but we are going to focus on how to interpret the verbs and the actions that should be executed for each on in the context of a well-defined REST Web API. In the table there is also the result set that standard clients expect when they make requests with such VERBs. To better understand their proper use, we’ll use a sample resource endpoint called Users, where the (you guessed it) “Users” of our app are exposed via our Web API.

Resource Sample		GET (Read)	POST (Insert)	PUT (update)	DELETE	Patch (partial update)
api/users	Action	Get a list of users	Creates a user	Batch update	Error	Batch update the users only with the attributes present in the request
	Return	List of users	New user	No payload, only HTTP Status Code	Error HTTP Status Code
api/users/123	Action	Get a single user	Error	Updates the user	Deletes the user	Partially updates the user only with the attributes present in the request
	Return	Single user	Error HTTP Status code	Updated user	No payload, only

And this is how you properly use the HTTP Verbs in a REST Web API.

:information_source: This paragraph is mainly a copy from http://micheltriana.com/2013/09/30/http-verbs-in-a-rest-web-api/. Thanks to Michel Triana.