Working with the Resources API

Overview

The SignalK specification defines a number of resources (routes, waypoints, notes, regions & charts) each with its own path under the root resources path (e.g. /signalk/v2/api/resources/routes).

Additionally, the /resources path can be used to host other user defined resource types, each grouped within its own folder (e.g. /signalk/v2/api/resources/fishingZones).

The Resources API validates requests to these resource paths and passes them to a Resource Provider plugin for storage and retrieval.

Client applications can then use HTTP requests to these paths to store (POST, PUT), retrieve (GET) and remove (DELETE) resource entries.

Note: the ability to store resource entries is controlled by the server security settings so client applications may need to authenticate for write / delete operations to complete successfully.

Retrieving Resources

Resource entries are retrived by submitting an HTTP GET request to the relevant path.

For example to return a list of all available routes

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/routes'

or alternatively fetch a specific route.

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/routes/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

A filtered list of entries can be retrieved based on criteria such as:

being within a bounded area
distance from vessel
total entries returned

by supplying a query string containing key | value pairs in the request.

Example 1: Retrieve waypoints within 50km of the vessel. Note: distance in meters value should be provided.

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints?distance=50000'

Example 2: Retrieve up to 20 waypoints within 90km of the vessel.

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints?distance=90000&limit=20'

Example 3: Retrieve waypoints within a bounded area. Note: the bounded area is supplied as bottom left & top right corner coordinates in the form swLongitude,swLatitude,neLongitude,neLatitude.

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints?bbox=[-135.5,38,-134,38.5]'

Deleting Resources

Resource entries are deleted by submitting an HTTP DELETE request to a path containing the id of the resource to delete.

Example: Delete from storage the route with id 94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111.

HTTP DELETE 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/routes/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

Creating / updating Resources

Creating a new resource entry:

Resource entries are created by submitting an HTTP POST request to a path for the relevant resource type.

HTTP POST 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/routes' {resource_data}

The new resource is created and its id (generated by the server) is returned in the response message.

{
  "state": "COMPLETED",
  "statusCode": 200,
  "id": "94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111"
}

Note: Each POST will generate a new id so if the resource data remains the same duplicate resources will be created.

Updating a resource entry:

Resource entries are updated by submitting an HTTP PUT request to a path for the relevant resource type that includes the resource id.

HTTP PUT 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

As the PUT request replaces the record with the supplied id, the submitted resource data should contain a complete record for the resource type being written.

Each resource type has a specific set of attributes that are required to be supplied before the resource entry can be created or updated.

If either the submitted resource data or the resource id are invalid then the operation is aborted._

Note: the submitted resource data is validated against the OpenApi schema definition for the relevant resource type.

Multiple Providers for a Resource Type

The Resources API will allow for multiple plugins to register as a provider for the same resource type.

When this scenario occurs the server services request in the following ways:

Listing entries:

When a list of resources is requested

for example:

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints'

each registered provider will be asked to return matching entries and the server aggregates the results and returns them to the client.

Requests for specific resources:

When a request is received for a specific resource

for example:

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

HTTP PUT 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

HTTP DELETE 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111'

each registered provider will polled to determine which one owns the entry with the supplied id. The provider with the resource entry is then the target of the requested operation (getResource(), setResource(), deleteResource()).

Creating new resource entries:

When a request is received to create a new resource

for example:

HTTP POST 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints'

the first provider that was registered for that resource type will be the target of the requested operation (setResource()).

Specifying the resource provider to be the tartet of the request:

When multiple providers are registered for a resource type the client can specify which provider should be the target of the request by using the query parameter provider.

Example:

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints?provider=provider-plugin-id'

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111?provider=provider-plugin-id'

HTTP PUT 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111?provider=provider-plugin-id'

HTTP DELETE 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints/94052456-65fa-48ce-a85d-41b78a9d2111?provider=provider-plugin-id'

HTTP POST 'http://hostname:3000/signalk/v2/api/resources/waypoints?provider=provider-plugin-id'

the value assigned to provider is the plugin id of the resource provider plugin.

The plugin id can be obtained from the Signal K server url http://hostname:3000/plugins.

Example:

HTTP GET 'http://hostname:3000/plugins'

[
  {
    "id": "sk-resources-fs",  // <-- plugin id
    "name": "Resources Provider",
    "packageName": "sk-resources-fs",
    "version": "1.3.0",
    ...
  },
  ...
]

Signal K Server Documentation

Working with the Resources API

Overview

Retrieving Resources

Deleting Resources

Creating / updating Resources

Multiple Providers for a Resource Type