MATLAB Rest API/Rest API Web Service and Matlab Production Server

Question

A consulting client will provide a REST API and I need to connect to it through a locally installed on-premises Matlab (not Matlab Production Server), download and crunch some data and then send the results back.

I don't have experience with REST API yet so please excuse if I am mixing terms.

Right now I am trying to understand which is the relevant documentation for me and there are two options I am looking at:

1. The methods listed here - https://nl.mathworks.com/help/matlab/internet-file-access.html?s_tid=CRUX_lftnav , all relate to a RESTful Web Service. I don't know yet if the client has a REST API that can be categorized as a web service (I am going to use it to access some client data) - would anybody know what the 'standard' use case for a REST API is and if it will likely be considered as a 'web service'? I guess the 'web' service part refers to the HTTP protocol and it does need to be a website?

2. Then there is a bunch of documentation related specifically for the Matlab Production Server, which seems to me to be a more general version of dealing with REST APIs - https://nl.mathworks.com/help/mps/restful-api-and-json.html However, if I understand it well, the second option is exclusive to MPS (and this is not what we will be using to access the API - we will be using standard Matlab Standalone desktop version)

Appreciate any help and clarifications!

p.s. I have read REST api vs REST Webservice vs RESTFul web service and that has cleared some questions on the difference between REST Api and REST API web service but it is still somewhat unclear in my head.

Answer 1

Sounds like you want to use webread and webwrite.

The MPS stuff is where MATLAB acts as the REST API, i.e. MATLAB is the server...

With webread and webwrite you can read/write data to/from an external server that's nothing to do with MATLAB.