Mixing Resources (REST) and Non-Resources

Question

Our server currently serves a REST-ful API that allows the user to CRUD resources as expected.

What happens if we have something that is not a resource, such as helper data? Do we have to stick to the strict REST-ful convention?

For instance, let's say we have dog in a REST-ful API:

GET:  /dogs/
GET:  /dogs/:id
POST: /dogs/
PUT:  /dogs/:id
DELETE: /dogs/:id

is it okay to add something like:

GET: /util/randomNumber/

that returns a random number?

It's not really a resource since you wouldn't ever update it, or delete it, and cannot be part of a collection. It's not dependable either since it will change on every hit.

(note, I'm not actually trying to generate random numbers. Just an example).

Answer 1

Yes it is ok to have your random number generator method decorated like

@GET
@Path("util/randomNumber")
public Response getRandom(...)