How to use RESTful webservices in Matlab

Question

I have a data provider that provides a web-based RESTful interface. I\'m trying to get that data into Matlab. The interface is relatively simple, but I\'m still looking for

Answer 1

If the RESTful interface returns JSON, it looks like it's as easy as installing a little plugin:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/20565

and ((almost) direct from the readme of that plugin):

google_search = 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/....'; 
matlab_results = parse_json(urlread(google_search));

I guess that's a nice thing about RESTful interfaces over SOAP or whatever is that you don't need excessive machinery to deal with it. I'm sure if the interface isn't returning JSON it will be something similar you can parse.

Answer 2

MATLAB R2014b can do this natively: http://uk.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/webread.html

For example:

api = 'http://climatedataapi.worldbank.org/climateweb/rest/v1/';
url = [api 'country/cru/tas/year/USA'];
S = webread(url)