I assume you mean what is the benefit of hypermedia?
Martin Fowler does a good job explaining it (http://martinfowler.com/articles/richardsonMaturityModel.htm...).
As does Mike Amundsen (http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Building-Hypermedia-API).
Martin Fowler does a good job explaining it (http://martinfowler.com/articles/richardsonMaturityModel.htm...).
As does Mike Amundsen (http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Building-Hypermedia-API).
<openSlotList>
<slot id = "1234" doctor = "mjones" start = "1400" end = "1450">
<link rel = "/linkrels/slot/book" uri = "/slots/1234"/>
</slot>
<slot id = "5678" doctor = "mjones" start = "1600" end = "1650">
<link rel = "/linkrels/slot/book" uri = "/slots/5678"/>
</slot>
</openSlotList>
Each slot now has a link element which contains a URI to tell us how to book an appointment.
We also don't know if we are supposed to GET, PUT, DELETE, POST.. or what data we are supposed to send to the url to actually make the booking.
In the human readable description of the "/linksrels/slot/book" link relation, information should be given about what generally can be done with such links (like if GET or POST is supported, etc). This allows you to build your client applications. The value of the actual link (the 'uri' attribute) should be completely opaque to the client.