REST API syntax

• POST
• PUT
• GET
• DELETE

The examples that are shown in this topic contain line breaks for page formatting; however, the REST API does not allow line breaks.

POST

The POST method maps to the MongoDB insert or create command.

Create a database

This example creates a database with the locale specified.

Request:

Specify the POST method:

POST / 

Data:

Specify database name mydb and an English UTF-8 locale:

{name:"mydb",locale:"en_us.utf8"}

Response:

The following response indicates that the operation was successful:

{"msg":"created db 'mydb'","ok":true}

Create a collection

This example creates a collection in the mydb database.

Request:

Specify the POST method and the database name as mydb:

POST /mydb

Data:

Specify the collection name as bar:

{name:"bar"}

Response:

The following response indicates that the operation was successful:

{"msg":"created collection mydb.bar","ok":true}

Create a relational table

This example creates a relational table in an existing database.

Request:

Specify the POST method and stores_mydb as the database:

POST /stores_mydb

Data:

Specify the table attributes:

{ name: "rel", 
  options: {
		columns:[{name:"id",type:"int",primaryKey:true,},
 			    {name:"name",type:"varchar(255)"},
	  		    {name:"age",type:"int",notNull:false}]
  }
}

Response:

The following response indicates that the operation was successful:

{msg: "created collection stores_mydb.rel" ok: true}

Insert a single document

This example inserts a document into an existing collection.

Request:

Specify the POST method, mydb database, and people collection:

POST /mydb/people

Data:

Specify John Doe age 31:

{firstName:"John",lastName:"Doe",age:31}

Response:

Here is a successful response:

{"n":1,"ok":true}

Insert multiple documents into a collection

This example inserts multiple documents into a collection.

Request:

Specify the POST method, mydb database, and people collection:

POST /mydb/people

Data:

Specify John Doe age 31 and Jane Doe age 31:

[{firstName:"John",lastName:"Doe",age:31},
{firstName:"Jane",lastName:"Doe",age:31}]	

Response:

Here is a successful response:

{"n":2,"ok":true}

PUT

The PUT method maps to the MongoDB update command.

Update a document in a collection

This example updates the value for Larry in an existing collection, from age 49 - 25:

[{"_id":{"$oid":"536d20f1559a60e677d7ed1b"},"firstName":"Larry"
,"lastName":"Doe","age":49},{"_id":{"$oid":"536d20f1559a60e677d7ed1c"}
,"firstName":"Bob","lastName":"Doe","age":47}]

Request:

Specify the PUT method and query the name Larry:

PUT /mydb/people?query={firstName:"Larry"}

Data:

Specify the MongoDB $set operator with age 25:

{"$set":{age:25}}

Response:

Here is a successful response:

{"n":1,"ok":true}

GET

The GET method maps to the MongoDB query command.

List databases

This example lists all of the databases on the server.

Request:

Specify the GET method and forward slash (/):

GET /

Data:

None.

Response:

Here is a successful response:

[ "mydb" , "test" ]

List all collections

This example lists all of the collections in a database.

Request:

Specify the GET method and mydb database:

GET /mydb

Data:

None.

Response:

Here is a successful response:

["bar"]

Query a collection and sort the results in ascending order

This example sorts the query results in ascending order by age.

Request:

Specify the GET method, mydb database, people collection, and query with the sort parameter. The sort parameter specifies ascending order (age:1), and filters id (_id:0) and last name (lastName:0) from the response:

GET /mydb/people?sort={age:1}&fields={_id:0,lastName:0}

Data:

None.

Response:

The first names are displayed in ascending order with the _id and lastName filtered from the response:

[{"firstName":"Sherry","age":31},
{"firstName":"John","age":31},
{"firstName":"Bob","age":47},
{"firstName":"Larry","age":49}]

Run the collStats command to get statistics about a collection

This example submits the MongoDB collStats command by using the REST API to get statistics about the jsonlog collection.

Here is the MongoDB shell syntax:

db.runCommand({collStats:"jsonlog"})

Request:

Specify the GET method, mydb database, and the collStats command document as the query:

GET /mydb/$cmd?query={collStats:"jsonlog"}

Data:

None.

Response:

[
	    {
	        "ns":"mydb.jsonlog",
	        "count":1000,
	        "size":322065,
	        "avgObjSize":322,
	        "storageSize":323584,
	        "numExtents":158,
	        "nindexes":1,
	        "lastExtentSize":2048,
	        "paddingFactor":0,
	        "flags":1,
	        "indexSizes":
	        {
	            "_id_":49152
	        },
	        "totalIndexSize":49152,
	        "ok":1
	    }
	]

Run an SQL function

This example runs an SQL function that adds two values.

Here is the MongoDB shell syntax:

> db.runCommand({runFunction:"add_values", "arguments":[3,6]}

Request:

Specify the GET method, mydb database, the runFunction parameter with the function name, and the arguments parameter with the argument values as the query:

GET mydb/$cmd?query={"runFunction":"add_values","arguments":[3,6]}

Data:

None

Response:

[{"returnValue": 9,"ok":1.0}]

Query with a native cursor

Use the following format to return query results in a native cursor:

GET /dbname/collectionname?query={query_condition}&nativeCursor=1

After you obtain the results, run the killCursors command to close the cursor.

DELETE

The DELETE method maps to the MongoDB delete command.

Delete a database

This example deletes a database called mydb.

Request:

Specify the DELETE method and the mydb database:

DELETE /mydb

Data:

None.

Response:

Here is a successful response:

{msg: "dropped database", ns: "mydb", ok: true}

Delete a collection

This example deletes a collection from a database.

Request:

Specify the DELETE method, mydb database, and bar collection:

DELETE /mydb/bar

Data:

None.

Response:

Here is a successful response:

{"msg":"dropped collection", "ns":"mydb.bar", "ok":true}

Delete documents from a collection

This example deletes documents from a collection that contains the user "bob".

Request:

Specify the DELETE method, mydb database, people collection, and the query condition:

DELETE /mydb/people?query={user:"bob"}

Data:

None.

Response:

Here is a successful response where n indicates the number of documents deleted.

{"n":1,"ok":true}