Google Cloud Rest API Integration: 2 Easy Methods

Cloud storage has become an important part of data today as it makes it easier for users and analysts to store and access their data in the Cloud at any point in time without hassle. Many corporations have come up with different Cloud offerings to provide customers with storage services and so there is a lot of competition in the market to cater to the needs of users. Google Cloud Storage (GCS) is one such platform that is popular for its flexible and scalable Cloud Storage services.

To be able to use any of this data storage, you will need to know how to access them and the parameters needed for use, REST APIs such as JSON and XML are commonly used to do this as you can connect directly with your storage unit through your REST APIs to update, retrieve, or modify information by sending requests and receiving a response to this effect.

This article will introduce Google Cloud Storage (GCS) and REST APIs and will discuss how you can use the REST APIs of JSON and XML to set up the Google Cloud REST API Integration. It will also explain useful components associated with GCS. Read along to learn more about these 2 tools!

Introduction to Google Cloud Storage (GCS)

Google Cloud Storage is a scalable and secure object storage service that lets you store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere. Whether you’re handling media files, backups, or large datasets, Google Cloud Storage provides flexible options to meet your needs. You can seamlessly integrate it with other Google Cloud services, ensuring easy management and access to your data while keeping it safe and always available.

Introduction to REST APIs

REST APIs (Representational State Transfer) allow communication between client and server using HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. They follow stateless, uniform conventions, making it easier for developers to build scalable web services. REST APIs are lightweight and flexible and can return various formats like JSON and XML, enabling smooth integration across systems.

Difference Between REST API and API

Feature	REST API	API (SOAP, RPC, etc.)
Protocol	HTTP	HTTP, SMTP, TCP, etc.
Statelessness	Stateless	Can be stateful or stateless
Data Format	JSON, XML, HTML	Mostly XML (in SOAP)
Performance	Lightweight, faster	Heavier due to strict structure
Caching	Supports caching	Limited caching support
Flexibility	Highly flexible, uses URIs and resources	Limited flexibility, rigid standards
Learning Curve	Easy to learn and implement	More complex, especially with SOAP APIs

Components Required for Google Cloud REST API Integration

This section is going to look at the following properties and components associated with the GCS REST API Integration:

• Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 1: Authentication Access Token
• Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 2: Buckets
• Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 3: Objects
• Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 4: Request Endpoints

Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 1: Authentication Access Token

To be able to connect REST API to GCS, you will first need an authentication access token which can be accessed from Google’s playground online here.

The access tokens usually last for 1 hour. Once it is generated, you can then proceed to get the Cloud Storage authentication.

Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 2: Buckets

The Buckets resource represents a bucket in GCS where they usually contain objects which can be accessed by their methods. They are always owned by the project team owners group. 

Buckets have the following HTTP request

PATCH https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/bucket

For further reading on Buckets, visit here.

Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 3: Objects

This is used to update a data blob’s associated metadata and has the following HTTP request:

PATCH https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/bucket/o/object

Google Cloud REST API Integration Component 4: Request Endpoints

These are Request Endpoints (URLs) that are used to access GCS, it has support for HTTP/1.2,  HTTP/2, and HTTP/3 protocols. 

To make an API request using JSON API, use the following URL in the example below:

https://storage.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME/o/OBJECT_NAME?alt=media

To make an API request using XML API, use the following URL in the example below:

https://storage.googleapis.com/BUCKET_NAME/OBJECT_NAME

Visit here for further reading about Request Endpoints.

Check out how SQL Server REST API Integration effortlessly, facilitating data transfer for comprehensive analysis.

Methods to Set Up the Google Cloud REST API Integration

You can connect Google Cloud Storage to REST APIs using the following 2 methods:

• Method 1: Using XML API for Google Cloud REST API Integration
• Method 2: Using JSON API for Google Cloud REST API Integration

Method 1: Using XML API for Google Cloud REST API Integration

The XML API is an interface that lets you manage Google Cloud Storage data in a programmable fashion, it is majorly used by software developers. XML is a RESTful interface as it relies on HTTP methods and scoping information to define and execute the operations to be carried out.

The method information can be specified using standard HTTP methods such as DELETE, GET, HEAD, and PUT while the scoping information can be specified using a publicly accessible endpoint (Uniform Resource Identifier) and other scoped parameters. The primary scoping parameter for the XML API is the bucket and object names. The Cloud Storage XML API offers a web-based interface that enables you to make HTTP requests and manage responses as each of the requests executes a standard HTTP method, HTTP request headers can also be used along with the methods. 

Every request you make to GCS is always authenticated except for requests made to anonymously accessible objects or buckets. Below is a sample request retrieving a list of objects written in XML API with a bucket name my-travels and has the prefix /europe/spain.

GET /?list-type=2&prefix=/europe/spain/ HTTP/1.1
Host:my- trave.storage.googleapis.com
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:31:56 -0800
Content-Length: 0
Authorization: Bearer ya29.AHES6ZRVmB7fkLtd1XTmq6mo0S1wqZZi3-Lh_s-6Uw7p8vtgSwg

For further reading on XML API.

Method 2: Using JSON API for Google Cloud REST API Integration

The JSON API is a simple interface that lets you access and manipulates your GCS projects through programming methods. Like the XML API, it is majorly used by software developers. It uses web programming and the creation of applications through web services using HTTP methods, the current version of the JSON API is v1.

Using JSON API, you can ask GCS to send only the fields you need as opposed to sending the full representation of your request in its response. This practice is known as partial response and it provides better performance of your requests. To use partial response, the Fields request parameter is used to specify the specific fields you want to be returned and it can be used along with any requests that return response data.

The format of the Fields requests parameter value is loosely based on the XPath syntax and needs you to use a comma-separated list to return multiple fields, use a/b to return a field b that is nested within field a, use a sub-selector to request a set of specific sub-fields of arrays. 

When a valid request that includes the Fields query parameter is processed by a server, it sends back an HTTP 200 OK status code along with the requested data to show it was successful; otherwise, when invalid, it returns an HTTP 400 Bad Request status code along with an error message. An example of a partial request and response is shown below:

https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/my-bucketT/o/my-object?fields=id,name,metadata/key1

https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/my-bucketT/o/my-object?fields=id,name,metadata/key1

200 OK

{
  "id": "my-bucket/my-object.png/456456456456",
  "name": "my-object.png",
  "metadata": {
    "key1": "val1"
  }
}

The JSON API also allows you to send updated values for specific fields to a resource metadata to modify it by using the HTTP PATCH verb known as partial updates. PATCH supports buckets, objects, defaultObjectAcessControls, etc resources.

When you use PATCH, the modified data is merged into the data for the parent object. This may include Add, Modify, and Delete. An example of a PATCH request to update the metadata of JSON GCS API object and its response is shown below.

PATCH https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME/o/OBJECT_NAME
Authorization: Bearer OAUTH2_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json
 
{
  "metadata": {"NEW_KEY" : "NEW_VALUE"}
}

Response

200 OK

{
  "id": "OBJECT_ID",
  "name": "OBJECT_NAME",
  "bucket": "BUCKET_NAME",
  "metadata": {
    "EXISTING_KEY" : "EXISTING_VALUE",
    "NEW_KEY" : "NEW_VALUE"
  },
  ...
}

Generally, to use JSON query parameters with a request add “?”, the name of the query parameter, and the desired value to the end of the request as seen below:

https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/BUCKET_NAME/o/OBJECT_NAME?QUERY_PARAMETER=VALUE

For further information, visit here – GCS JSON API

Conclusion

This article introduced you to Google Cloud Storage and REST APIs. It further discussed the REST APIs of JSON and XML and explained how to connect them to Google Cloud Storage (GCS). It also explained the important parameters which are needed for a successful Google Cloud Rest API connection.

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FAQ on Google Cloud REST API