Beacon REST API¶
While the full power of the Beacon API can be unlocked through the use of structured queries using JSON serialization ("POST" requests), the majority of common queries can be implemented through standard query URLs with parameters (GET queries).
Beacon API URL structure¶
Beacon REST paths in general follow the format
__APIroot__/__entryType__/{id}/
or
__APIroot__/__entryType__/{id}/__requestedSchema__
A typical example would e.g. the request to retrieve all genomic variants associated with a biosample
https://example.com/beacon/api/biosamples/bios-st4582/g_variants
REST Endpoint Definitions
The endpoind paths available for a given Beacon instance are defined in
__APIroot__/beaconMap/ Github
POST requests¶
In POST requests queries and metadata are defined in JSON objects as specified
in the model supported by the Beacon instance. For more information see
GET queries¶
By default the Beacon model supports a limited set of query parameters, most notably such addressing genomic variations. Examples can be found in the Genomic Queries documentation and in the requests section of the default model.
List parameters in GET queries¶
Several of the common query parameters have a multiple value option, i.e. are
assumed to be lists. A typical use case here would be the construction of Bracket Queries
which use 2 of each start and end values.
Use a comma , separator for list values in GET
Due to the problem of some web frameworks with the interpretation of multiple values for the same parameter we recommend the consistant use of a single parameter name and comma-concatenated values.
&start=1234000&start=5234000&start=1234000,5234000