Managing Layers through the REST API

The REST API for Layer management provides a RESTful interface through which clients can programatically add, modify, or remove cached Layers.

Layers list

/rest/layers.xml

Method

Action

Return Code

Formats

GET

Return the list of available layers

200

XML

POST

405

PUT

405

DELETE

400

Note

JSON representation is intentionally left aside as the library used for JSON marshaling has issues with multi-valued properties such as parameterFilters.

Sample request:

curl -u geowebcache:secured  "http://localhost:8080/geowebcache/rest/layers"

Sample response:

<layers>
 <layer>
   <name>img states</name>
   <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geowebcache/rest/layers/img+states.xml" type="text/xml"/>
 </layer>
 <layer>
   <name>raster test layer</name>
   <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geowebcache/rest/layers/raster+test+layer.xml" type="text/xml"/>
 </layer>
 <layer>
   <name>topp:states</name>
   <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geowebcache/rest/layers/topp%3Astates.xml" type="text/xml"/>
 </layer>
</layers>

Layer Operations

/rest/layers/<layer>.xml

Method

Action

Return Code

Formats

GET

Return the XML representation of the Layer

200

XML

POST

Modify the definition/configuration of a Layer. DEPRECATED - use PUT instead.

200

XML

PUT

Add a new layer or modify the definition/configuration of a Layer.

200

XML

DELETE

Delete a Layer

200

Representations:

Note

JSON representation is intentionally left aside as the library used for JSON marshaling has issues with multi-valued properties such as parameterFilters.

REST API for Layers, cURL Examples

The examples in this section use the cURL utility, which is a handy command line tool for executing HTTP requests and transferring files. Though cURL is used the examples apply to any HTTP-capable tool or library.

Add Layer

Sample request:

Given a layer.xml file as the following:

<wmsLayer>
  <name>layer1</name>
  <mimeFormats>
    <string>image/png</string>
  </mimeFormats>
  <gridSubsets>
    <gridSubset>
      <gridSetName>EPSG:900913</gridSetName>
    </gridSubset>
  </gridSubsets>
  <wmsUrl>
    <string>http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wms</string>
  </wmsUrl>
  <wmsLayers>topp:states</wmsLayers>
</wmsLayer>

curl -v -u geowebcache:secured -XPUT -H "Content-type: text/xml" -d @layer.xml  "http://localhost:8080/geowebcache/rest/layers/layer1.xml"

Or if using the GeoServer integrated version of GeoWebCache:

curl -v -u user:password -XPUT -H "Content-type: text/xml" -d @layer.xml  "http://localhost:8080/geoserver/gwc/rest/layers/layer1.xml"

Note

the addressed resource layer1.xml, without the .xml extension, must match the name of the layer in the xml representation.

Modify Layer

Now, make some modifications to the layer definition on the layer.xml file:

<wmsLayer>
  <name>layer1</name>
  <mimeFormats>
    <string>image/png</string>
    <string>image/jpeg</string>
    <string>image/gif</string>
  </mimeFormats>
  <gridSubsets>
    <gridSubset>
      <gridSetName>EPSG:900913</gridSetName>
    </gridSubset>
    <gridSubset>
      <gridSetName>EPSG:4326</gridSetName>
    </gridSubset>
  </gridSubsets>
  <wmsUrl>
    <string>http://localhost:8080/geoserver/wms</string>
  </wmsUrl>
  <wmsLayers>topp:states,nurc:Img_Sample</wmsLayers>
</wmsLayer>

curl -v -u geowebcache:secured -XPUT -H "Content-type: text/xml" -d @layer.xml  "http://localhost:8080/geoserver/gwc/rest/layers/layer1.xml"

Delete Layer

Finally, to delete a layer, use the HTTP DELETE method against the layer resource:

curl -v -u geowebcache:secured -XDELETE "http://localhost:8080/geoserver/gwc/rest/layers/layer1.xml"
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