HEAD and OPTIONS methods in Rest API - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding HEAD and OPTIONS Methods in REST API

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple REST API for a book store. You want to understand how to use the HEAD and OPTIONS HTTP methods to check resource headers and allowed methods without fetching the full data.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to implement and test the HEAD and OPTIONS methods in a REST API to check resource metadata and allowed HTTP methods.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a simple REST API endpoint for books

Implement the HEAD method to return headers without body

Implement the OPTIONS method to return allowed HTTP methods

Test the API methods and print the results

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

HEAD and OPTIONS methods help clients check resource info and allowed actions without downloading full data, saving time and bandwidth.

💼 Career

Understanding these HTTP methods is important for backend developers and API designers to build efficient and standards-compliant web services.

1

Set up a basic REST API endpoint for books

Create a list called books with these exact dictionaries: {'id': 1, 'title': '1984'} and {'id': 2, 'title': 'Brave New World'}.

Rest API

# Create a list called books with two dictionaries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a list with two dictionaries exactly as shown.

2

Add a variable for allowed HTTP methods

Create a variable called allowed_methods and set it to the list ['GET', 'POST', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS'].

Rest API

books = [{'id': 1, 'title': '1984'}, {'id': 2, 'title': 'Brave New World'}]
# Create allowed_methods list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a list with the exact HTTP methods shown.

3

Implement functions to simulate HEAD and OPTIONS methods

Write two functions: head_books() that returns only headers like {'Content-Length': '123'} and options_books() that returns {'Allow': allowed_methods}.

Rest API

books = [{'id': 1, 'title': '1984'}, {'id': 2, 'title': 'Brave New World'}]
allowed_methods = ['GET', 'POST', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS']

# Define head_books() to return headers only
# Define options_books() to return allowed methods
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Define two functions returning dictionaries as headers and allowed methods.

4

Print the results of HEAD and OPTIONS methods

Print the result of calling head_books() and then print the result of calling options_books().

Rest API

books = [{'id': 1, 'title': '1984'}, {'id': 2, 'title': 'Brave New World'}]
allowed_methods = ['GET', 'POST', 'HEAD', 'OPTIONS']

def head_books():
    # Simulate headers only, no body
    return {'Content-Length': '123'}

def options_books():
    # Return allowed HTTP methods
    return {'Allow': allowed_methods}

# Print the results of head_books() and options_books()
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print() to show the returned dictionaries from both functions.