“REST is the Wild West” - An Introduction to REST and OAUTH

By PowerShellMichael

Elevator Pitch

“REST is the Wild West”. You are the pioneer, in a lawless internet embarking on a journey to write an integration using an API. Where do you start? This talk will provide attendees with the essential skills to navigate the unwieldy Wild REST on the Internet!

Description

“Yee Haw! It’s time to head into the Wild REST!”

Elevator Pitch

Pull out those cowboy boots because In this session we will be embarking on an expedition through the fundamentals of REST and OAUTH with PowerShell as our trusty steed! In this expedition, we will be learning about terminologies such as REST, JSON, XML, OAUTH & JWT. We will also be exploring some APIs in the wild, so we can experience the good, the bad and the ugly.

This is an interactive talk, so I will be asking for volunteers to help with various demonstrations.

This expedition will consist of two parts:

An Introduction to the Wild REST

  • What is REST?
  • What is JSON?
  • HTTP Breakdown
  • Using REST in PowerShell
  • Using the “Documentation”
  • Wild REST Examples

Intermission (5 Minutes)

An Introduction to OAUTH

  • What is OAUTH?
  • OAUTH Scopes
  • OAUTH Process Breakdown
  • Tokens: What’s the Big Deal?
  • JWT: Why Should I Care?

Notes

REST is my bread and butter and is something that I work with regularly. However, when I was starting this was not the case. I want to pass this knowledge on and help other people learn from my mistakes. This will be the combination (and expanded) talks of the following:

During this talk we will be working with different API’s:

  1. Phillips Hue - https://developers.meethue.com/
  2. Microsoft Graph - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/
  3. D2L - https://docs.valence.desire2learn.com/reference.html

Technical Requirements:

  1. If Possible a Cowboy Hat! :-D :-p
  2. Audience Participation - I will be asking questions to the audience and if possible to assist me. I was speaking to Glen and he mentioned that this might now be possible. I can work around this
  3. Local Access Point - (To connect Phillips Hue and the Surface to) This does not need to be connected to the internet.
  4. Phillips Hue Bridge and Light - I can provide this, with prerecorded demo’s as backup.
  5. A whiteboard - Yes I love whiteboards, they work well with the first point. Not essential)