Use PATCH verb to search?

Paul_Brousseau

A coworker pointed this out to me, and I couldn't think of a good reason for it... The OpenText RESTful API documentation illustrates how searches are supposed to be performed. The example that it gives cites using the PATCH HTTP verb:

URI                                                     Method   Notes 
/owners/123/dogs?where_color=tan&where_had_shots=true   PATCH    For a specific owner, get all the dogs that are tan in color and are up to date on vaccinations.

Why would we use the PATCH verb? By REST architectural guidelines, based on HTTP method, PATCH (similar to PUT) would be used to modify the contents of a resource, not to retrieve a subset of resources.

Ferdinand Prantl

I believe that it is a typo in the specification document. The description speaks clearly about getting the dogs, which you should read as GETting.

PATCH may be used for sending just a subset of attributes to be changed; not all of them like PUT, as you say. Maybe the scenario is to make all dogs with the tan fur which were vaccinated ready to sell?

PATCH /owners/123/dogs?where_color=tan&where_had_shots=true
Content-Type: application/json

{ ready_to_sell: true }