VMware VCLOUD API 1.0 - API User Manual

VMware, Inc. 141
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ThevCloud APIrepresentsobjectsinavCloudasXMLdocumentsinwhichobjectpropertiesareencodedas
elementsandattributeswithtypedvaluesandanexplicitobjecthierarchydefinedbyanXMLschema.This
chapterprovidesreferenceinformationabouthowthevCloud APIusesXMLtorepresentvCloudobjects.
Thischapterincludes
thefollowingtopics:
 “A b o u t ObjectRepresentations”onpage 141
 “CommonDatatypes”onpage 142
 “CommonAttributes”onpage 143
 “CommonElements”onpage 146
 “A P I Versioning”onpage 147
 “Extensibility”onpage 148
About Object Representations
ClientprogramsofRESTfulWebservicesmustbeabletorequestobjectrepresentationsfromtheserver,parse
theserver’sresponsestoextracttheinformationtheycontain,andcomposerequeststhat,inmanycases,are
basedontheinformationextractedfromaresponse.Developersofsuchclientsmustunderstandthestructure
of
eachrepresentationthatmightbepartofarequestorresponse,aswellasanyrequirementsthatthenetwork
protocol(HTTP)placesonclient‐serverinteraction.Inthisguide,referenceinformationoneachobject
representationincludestheXMLschemaoftheelementthatrepresentstheobject,theobjecttype(encoded
as
theMIMEcontenttypeoftherequestorresponse),andaprototypeoftheobjectreference(aURL).
Schema
EachvCloud APIobjectisdefinedinanXMLschemadocument.Someobjectsaredefinedintheirownschema
documents.Othersaredefinedinthecontextofthelargerschemainwhichtheyareused.Stillothersare
definedinacommonschemadocument,fromwhichotherschemasinherit.Thisguidepresents
reference
informationaboutXMLschemasintabularform,asshowninTable 8‐1.
XML Representations in the
vCloud API
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Table 8-1. Schema Reference Table Columns
Name Min Max Type Description
Nameofanelementor
attributecontained.
Elementnamesbegin
withanuppercase
character.Attribute
namesbeginwitha
lowercasecharacter.
Minimumnumberof
thisattributeor
elementrequiredby
theschema.
Maximumnumberof
thisattributeor
elementallowedbythe
schema.Avalueofn
meansthatthe
maximum
numberis
unlimited.
Typeoftheattributeor
element,eithera
primitiveXML
datatypeoracomplex
typedefinedbythe
vCloud API.
Descriptionofthe
attributeorelement

VMware VCLOUD API 1.0 - API Specifications

General

Brand	VMware
Model	VCLOUD API 1.0 - API
Category	Software
Language	English