REST API: Request body as JSON or plain POST data?

Question

I\'m currently building a REST API. All GET methods currently use JSON as response format. Whats the best practice on POST and PUT operations? Use JSON in the request body or pl

Answer 1

It depends on the data you want to exchange. If it is a complex structure you need to send it in a structured way (e.g. XML or JSON). In java web applications json is more lightweight, so it's preferable over XML.

If you want to send a few fields from a form "application/x-www-urlformencoded" type could be used as well.