REST API - Updating a Variable

Question

If you are updating a variable in a RESTful API, for example person's weight, how should this be laid out?

What I have thought of:

• PUT /person/1/weight?weight=150

• PUT /person/1/weight

  {"weight": 150}

• PUT /person/1/weight

  150

There's been a few answers on this but I don't feel like it's been answered in a clear, solid way.

Answer 1

Since you are updating just part of the resource you should consider using PATCH HTTP method.

Request format depends on your other API calls. Prefer consistency. If you use JSON elsewhere use JSON. Same goes for XML or whatever language you use.

I suggest using JSON, but I don't know how complex your API is.

Do, I'd do this:

PATCH person/1
Content-Type: application/json
{"weight": 150}