Use the API Explorer

This page explains how to use the API Explorer to try out Dataproc Metastore API methods. API Explorer is a widget attached to the REST API reference page for a method. It appears as a panel with the title Try this API.

The API Explorer is an excellent way to try out methods in the Dataproc Metastore API without having to write any code. The widget presents a form showing the parameters for each method. Fill in the form, click Execute, and see the results.

You can also hide the widget by clicking the close button at the top of the panel, or expand it to full screen by clicking the full screen button.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Enable the Dataproc Metastore API.

   Enable the API

4. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

5. Enable the Dataproc Metastore API.

   Enable the API

Access the API Explorer

The API Explorer is attached to the reference page for each REST API method. To find the widget, go to the reference page for a method, for example, the reference page for Dataproc Metastore projects.locations.services.create.

Execute a minimal request

Most methods have some required parameters and some optional ones. The required ones are marked with a red bar until they are filled. You can execute a minimal request by supplying only the required arguments.

The services.create method creates a Dataproc Metastore service in a chosen project and location. The required fields are the parent and serviceId fields. To create a service, supply the project number and location ID of your project for parent using the form projects/{projectNumber}/locations/{locationId}. And supply the service ID for serviceId.

Try It!

The results of the method invocation appear in a box under the Execute button. Typically, the box has a green header with the HTTP status code 200 in it, indicating the request succeeded.

If the header is red and contains an HTTP failure code, the box contains the error message. See Tips for pointers on resolving errors.

Supply additional parameters

The list of parameters you see depends on the method to which the API Explorer widget is attached. The services.create method has more than just the parent and serviceId parameters, but they are the only required parameters.

You can use the optional requestId parameter to specify a unique request ID to allow the server to ignore the request if it has completed.

Use fields to limit output further

By default, the set of parameters that API Explorer shows corresponds to the parameters of the associated method. However, the API Explorer widget also has a set of extra fields that are not available via the method itself.

These parameters are hidden under the toggle Show standard parameters.

Click this toggle to expose the extra widget parameters. Click Hide standard parameters to hide them from view.

The most useful of these standard parameters is the fields parameter, which lets you select the fields in the returned output that you want to see. This is very useful in the API Explorer panel, where the output is displayed in a box. There is often a lot of output to scroll through.

Tips

The following sections contain API Explorer tips.

Remember to change {projectNumber} and {locationId}

Do not forget to replace {projectNumber} and {locationId} with your project's number and location ID. Note that the API also accepts the project ID in place of the number.

Problems with the values

Here are some issues to watch for when using the API Explorer forms. These mistakes might cause errors or might be accepted but be treated like spelling errors in the API method:

• Don't use quotation marks around field values of any type.
• Be sure to quote strings appearing inside filters. Use double quotation marks (") and not apostrophes (').
• Don't use backslashes or URL-encoding in form fields. If needed, URL-encoding is performed on the field values when you execute the method.
• Look at the value in the result box after executing the call. You might notice the problem there.
• Supply a value for the pageSize field, such as 2. This limits the amount of data that is returned as you debug your API call.

Bookmark URLs for debugging

After you get the output you want, bookmark the API Explorer URL. When you want to run the method again, paste the URL into your browser. You see the form already populated with your values. Make any necessary changes to the parameters, and click Execute to run the method again.

Authentication

There is a Credentials section on the API Explorer page, above the Execute button. You typically don't need to change anything here.

The default authentication mechanism is Google OAuth 2.0.

There is also a Show scopes toggle in the Credentials section. This shows you which Compute Engine scopes you have available. By default, all available scopes are enabled.

What's next

• Dataproc Metastore API
• Enable the API
• Quickstart for deploying Dataproc Metastore