Full endpoint for API Calls?

Developers Getting Started
1

I’m trying to make the most simple API call to the IC’s via HTTPS interface. But when I try the following for some reason it downloads a file: https://ic0.app/api/v2/status/ Is this endpoint wrong or does it need some parameters?

How do I make an HTTPS API call from a browser?

2

Or can API calls via the HTTPS interface only be done via a CLI and not using a browser? Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!

3

You can make pure HTTPS calls (e.g. from curl), but there are some caveats.

For the moment only query calls are possible (no updates).
You will need to implement a function called http_request in your capsule, and add the needed logic there. I haven’t done it in motoko yet, but here’s a barebones rust example that I tested a while ago:

#[derive(CandidType, Clone, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct HeaderField(pub String, pub String);

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct HttpRequest {
    pub method: String,
    pub url: String,
    pub headers: Vec<HeaderField>,
    #[serde(with = "serde_bytes")]
    pub body: Vec<u8>,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize)]
struct HttpResponse {
    status_code: u16,
    headers: Vec<HeaderField>,
    #[serde(with = "serde_bytes")]
    body: Vec<u8>,
    streaming_strategy: Option<u32>,
}

#[query]
fn http_request(request: HttpRequest) -> HttpResponse {
    ic_cdk::println!("{:?}", request);

    HttpResponse {
        status_code: 200,
        headers: vec![],
        body: request.body.to_vec(),
        streaming_strategy: None,
    }
}

The above code should echo back whatever you send it.

1 Like
4

I literally stumbled upon this repo 5 minutes ago.

I’m not sure if this will help but you may want to give it a read.

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5

Do you have an example of simple query call like a GET call that could be done via in a browser without additional coding? For example, calling/querying the following API endpoint from a browser gives you a list of all country info in a database: https://restcountries.eu/rest/v2/all

6

IC API calls via the HTTPS interface can be called from anywhere that https calls can be made. this endpoint: /api/v2/status/ is a correct one but it gives back bytes that are in a cbor-coding. You can check out this document for the full HTTPS api and for the encodings/decodings of the requests/responses of the endpoints: The Internet Computer Interface Specification :: Internet Computer

2 Likes
7

Got it - thanks for the explanation.