Request and response types

The Identity API supports both the JSON and XML data serialization formats.

The request format is specified by using the Content-Type header and is required for operations that have a request body.

The response format can be specified in requests either by using the Accept header or adding an .xml or .json extension to the request URI. A response can be serialized using a format that is different from the request. If no response format is specified, JSON is the default. If conflicting formats are specified by using both an Accept header and a query extension, the query extension takes precedence.

JSON and XML response formats:

Content-Type header syntax

The Content-Type header is required for API operations that have a request body.

Content-Type: application/format

The format type can be either json or xml.

Accept header syntax

For the Accept header, you can use the following syntax or the Query extension syntax.

Accept: application/<format>

Replace format with the desired value: json or xml.

For the Query extension syntax, add an .xml or .json extension to the request URI. For example, the .xml extension in the following URI request specifies that the response body be returned in XML format.

> POST /v2/tokens.xml

If you specify different formats for the Accept header and the query extension, the format specified in the query extension takes precedence. For example, if the query extension is .xml and the Accept header specifies application/json, the response is returned in xml format.

You can serialize a response in a different format from the request format as shown in the following examples.

In these examples, the request body is in JSON format with the Accept header specified as XML. When the request is submitted, the response is returned in XML format.

Example: Authentication Request with Headers: JSON

POST /v2.0/tokens HTTP/1.1
Host: identity.api.rackspacecloud.com
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/xml

{
  "auth": {
    "passwordCredentials": {
      "username": "demoauthor",
      "password": "mypass"
    },
    "tenantId": "1234"
  }
}

Example: Response with Headers: XML

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 03:35:05 GMT
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 1060
Connection: keep-alive
vary: Accept, Accept-Encoding, X-Auth-Token

<access xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
xmlns:rax-auth="http://docs.rackspace.com/identity/api/ext/RAX-AUTH/v1.0"
xmlns="http://docs.openstack.org/identity/api/v2.0"
xmlns:ns4="http://docs.rackspace.com/identity/api/ext/RAX-KSGRP/v1.0"
xmlns:rax-ksqa="http://docs.rackspace.com/identity/api/ext/RAX-KSQA/v1.0"
xmlns:os-ksadm="http://docs.openstack.org/identity/api/ext/OS-KSADM/v1.0"
xmlns:rax-kskey="http://docs.rackspace.com/identity/api/ext/RAX-KSKEY/v1.0"
xmlns:os-ksec2="http://docs.openstack.org/identity/api/ext/OS-KSEC2/v1.0">
     <token id="yyyyxxxaxxxxyyyyyyxxxxxxxyyyyy" expires="2014-06-29T21:09:34.085Z">
          <rax-auth:authenticatedBy>
               <rax-auth:credential>PASSWORD</rax-auth:credential>
          </rax-auth:authenticatedBy>
     </token>
     <user name="demoauthor" rax-auth:defaultRegion="DFW" rax-auth:federated="false">
          <roles>
               <role id="3" name="identity:user-admin" description="User Admin Role."/>
          </roles>
     </user>
     <serviceCatalog/>
</access>