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    So when building the UI we still need to know everything that the API offers, and then looking at those links we are able to know the state the information on the server is at? So for instance, the UI knows it's possible to deposit, withdraw, transfer or close (knows the possible rels), then it checks what came back in order to see the state? Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 22:12
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    Yes, it could. Again it depends on how dynamic that you want to take it. As others have mentioned, the ability to change links on the server (and not break clients) is another advantage. And this becomes very interesting once your API has an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Mobile Web and Web clients that all use it (not to mention if your API is published for others to build clients on). Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 22:16
  • @user1620696 You should know all of this anyway through both the client and server understating the content type if the resoure. Content type is a lot more than dumb xml or Json. You should have some "bank deposit" content type that the client understand how to work with Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 13:23
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    @Nik take a look at HAL for an example of how the links are provided in the response. Commented Jan 25, 2019 at 11:11
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    yes, you still have backwards compatibility concerns. This can be solved by including a version header or version in the url. But, I would say you are understanding correctly. Commented Jan 25, 2019 at 11:53