1.5
Table Of Contents
- vCloud API Programming Guide
- Contents
- vCloud API Programming Guide
- About the VMware vCloud API
- Hello vCloud: A Simplified RESTful Workflow
- Exploring a Cloud
- Provisioning an Organization with vApps, Templates, and Media
- Deploying and Operating vApps
- Summary of vCloud API vApp and Virtual Machine Operations Requests
- Create a vApp From a Template
- Compose a vApp From Existing Virtual Machines
- Recompose a vApp to Add or Remove Virtual Machines
- Operate a vApp
- Configuring vApps and Virtual Machines
- Retrieve the Configuration Links for a vApp
- Retrieve the Configuration Links for a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Update a Modifiable Section
- Update a vApp Network Configuration
- Update the NetworkConnectionSection of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the CPU Configuration of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the GuestCustomizationSection of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify ProductSection Elements
- Retrieve or Modify Groups of Related Sections in a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the Hard Disk Configuration of a Virtual Machine
- Creating, Provisioning, and Managing Organizations
- Summary of Administrative Requests
- Administrator Credentials and Privileges
- Organization Administration
- Network Administration
- vDC Administration
- Catalog Administration
- User and Group Administration
- Working With Roles and Rights
- Controlling Access to vApps and Catalogs
- Using vCloud API Extensions to Provision and Manage a Cloud
- Working With Object Metadata
- Using the Query Service
- Configuring and Using Blocking Tasks and Notifications
- XML Representations in the vCloud API
- Index
Retrieve an Object as an Entity
You can use the vCloud API entity resolver with an object's id attribute value to retrieve a context-free reference
to the object.
Every first-class object that the vCloud API defines includes an id attribute whose value is the object identifier
expressed in URN format. The value of the id attribute uniquely identifies the object, persists for the life of the
object, and is never reused.
You can append the value of the id attribute to the vCloud API entityResolver URL to retrieve a context-free
representation of the underlying object as an Entity element.
Prerequisites
Verify that you are logged in as a system administrator or member of an organization in the cloud.
Procedure
1 Retrieve the current Session object to get the entityResolver URL.
Use a request like this one:
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/session
The response is a Session element like the one shown in “Example: Create a Login Session,” on page 44.
The Session element contains the entityResolver URL in the href of the Link element in this excerpt.
<Session ... >
...
<Link
rel="entityResolver"
type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.entity+xml"
href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/" />
</Session>
2 Append the value of the object's id attribute to the entityResolver URL.
3 Make a GET request to the URL you created in Step 2
See the request portion of “Example: Using the entityResolver URL,” on page 237.
Example: Using the entityResolver URL
This example retrieves the Vapp object shown in the excerpt “Example: Object id, type, and href Attributes,”
on page 12 as an Entity.
Request:
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac
Response:
<Entity
xmlns="http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5"
id="urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac"
name="urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac"
type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.entity+xml"
href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-
a5eb54447dac"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ...>
<Link
Chapter 11 XML Representations in the vCloud API
VMware, Inc. 237