How would I implement RESTful PUT URLs if the primary key is unknown before the resource is created?

Question

I can see how this would work:

/user/456

with GET, POST, and DELETE but not with PUT unless the caller somehow knows the next primary key or they provide it themselves... how is this done?

I am going by what I read here: PUT vs POST in REST

The PUT method requests that the enclosed entity be stored under the supplied Request-URI.

I believe in that link they recommend that if the server is the one that determines the resulting resource's uri, that POST should be used, not PUT. — Paul DelRe, Jun 08 '11 at 18:12

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 09 '11 at 00:45

The client should send a POST request to /user to create the resource.
The server should then return a 201 CREATED response, with the URI of the resource in the Location header.
The client can then GET/PUT/DELETE from the URI it's been given to read/update/delete the resource.

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