Creating my first desktop application that requires accessing jira. What should I read?

[sherwin ncna]

The plugin project was cancelled, instead they wanted me to make a desktop application that uses the data in jira. I'm asking what documentation or tutorial should I read? Because before my post was about making a jira plugin so I think I need to read something else because what I'll be doing is a desktop application, not a plugin. Thanks.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Actually, this is being discussed today at https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/10318/java-standalone-program That's about using Java program outside Jira to change versions, but the answers refer you to what you need to know for any external program, including a desktop application (and no, you don't have to write it in java)

[sherwin ncna]

http://docs.atlassian.com/jira/REST/latest/

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRADEV/Creating+a+SOAP+Client

Thanks for your answer Nic. So either SOAP or REST. Which one do you think I should use? It's my first time making a desktop application that talks to another software. (Don't have to write it in java? Hmm.)

[sherwin ncna]

I was asked to use REST. After reading the jira rest api tutorial I learned that you're using http services to access the resource. You use the URLs they provided to get data or to manipulate it. But one thing wasn't clear to me. How do i use REST in my java project? Do i need to download something? Because they didn't say anything if there was something to download. I wish they provided a running sample. I have this simple code that asks the user for a username and password written in java but how do I validate it using the URL they gave? Thanks in advance. A sample code using the basic http authorisation would really help. Thanks again!