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C # tutorial
POST is used to send data to a server to create/update a resource
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is designed to enable communications between clients and servers.
HTTP works as a request-response protocol between a client and server.
Example: A client (browser) sends an HTTP request to the server; then the server returns a response to the client. The response contains status information about the request and may also contain the requested content.
The two most common HTTP methods are: GET and POST.
GET is used to request data from a specified resource.
Note that the query string (name/value pairs) is sent in the URL of a GET request:
The data sent to the server with POST is stored in the request body of the HTTP request:
The following table compares the two HTTP methods: GET and POST.
GET | POST | |
---|---|---|
BACK button/Reload | Harmless | Data will be re-submitted (the browser should alert the user that the data are about to be re-submitted) |
Bookmarked | Can be bookmarked | Cannot be bookmarked |
Cached | Can be cached | Not cached |
Encoding type | application/x-www-form-urlencoded | application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data. Use multipart encoding for binary data |
History | Parameters remain in browser history | Parameters are not saved in browser history |
Restrictions on data length | Yes, when sending data, the GET method adds the data to the URL; and the length of a URL is limited (maximum URL length is 2048 characters) | No restrictions |
Restrictions on data type | Only ASCII characters allowed | No restrictions. Binary data is also allowed |
Security | GET is less secure compared to POST because data sent is part of the URL Never use GET when sending passwords or other sensitive information! |
POST is a little safer than GET because the parameters are not stored in browser history or in web server logs |
Visibility | Data is visible to everyone in the URL | Data is not displayed in the URL |
PUT is used to send data to a server to create/update a resource.
The difference between POST and PUT is that PUT requests are idempotent. That is, calling the same PUT request multiple times will always produce the same result. In contrast, calling a POST request repeatedly have side effects of creating the same resource multiple times.
HEAD is almost identical to GET, but without the response body.
In other words, if GET /users returns a list of users, then HEAD /users will make the same request but will not return the list of users.
HEAD requests are useful for checking what a GET request will return before actually making a GET request - like before downloading a large file or response body.
The DELETE method deletes the specified resource.
The PATCH method is used to apply partial modifications to a resource.
The OPTIONS method describes the communication options for the target resource.
The CONNECT method is used to start a two-way communications (a tunnel) with the requested resource.
The TRACE method is used to perform a message loop-back test that tests the path for the target resource (useful for debugging purposes).