Adding existing style while publishing a new layer in GeoServer using REST API

Question

I have a function which publishes a layer in GeoServer with the REST API. Now I want to add an existing style in the layer while publishing it.

Anyone has any idea where I write the style name or call the 'style.sld' while publish the layer?

const publish = function (layerName) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    axios({
        method: 'POST',
        url: `http://${GEOSERVER_IP}:${GEOSERVER_PORT}/geoserver/rest/workspaces/workspaceName/datastores/datastoreName/featuretypes.xml`,
        auth: {
            username: `${GEOSERVER_ADMIN_USER}`,
            password: `${GEOSERVER_ADMIN_PASS}`
        },
        headers: {
            'Content-Type': 'text/xml'
        },
        data: `<featureType>
                <name>${layerName}</name>
                <srs>EPSG:4326</srs>
            </featureType>`
    })
        .then(response => {
            resolve({
                ok: 1,
                message: `Layer has been published.`
            })
        })
        .catch(err => {
            reject({
                ok: 0,
                message: err.response.data,
            })
        })

})
}

Answer 1

As the manual says you need to use POST the details to

/layers/<l>/styles[.<format>]

To determine the format of the file I usually use a request like:

curl -u admin:geoserver http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/layers/topp:states/styles.xml

which returns this:

<styles>
  <style>
    <name>pophatch</name>
    <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/layers/topp:states/styles/pophatch.xml" type="application/atom+xml"/>
  </style>
  <style>
    <name>polygon</name>
    <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/layers/topp:states/styles/polygon.xml" type="application/atom+xml"/>
  </style>
</styles>

So all you need to do is create a payload like:

<styles>
  <style>
    <name>new_style</name>
    <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/layers/topp:states/styles/new_style.xml" type="application/atom+xml"/>
  </style>
<styles>

Update

Alternatively, you could fetch and modify the layer.xml to add the new style information. So a request to the layer:

curl -u admin:geoserver http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/layers/topp:states.xml

gives:

<layer>
  <name>states</name>
  <path>/</path>
  <type>VECTOR</type>
  <defaultStyle>
    <name>population</name>
    <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/styles/population.xml" type="application/xml"/>
  </defaultStyle>
  <styles class="linked-hash-set">
    <style>
      <name>pophatch</name>
      <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/styles/pophatch.xml" type="application/xml"/>
    </style>
    <style>
      <name>polygon</name>
      <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/styles/polygon.xml" type="application/xml"/>
    </style>
  </styles>
  <resource class="featureType">
    <name>topp:states</name>
    <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8080/geoserver/rest/workspaces/topp/datastores/states_shapefile/featuretypes/states.xml" type="application/xml"/>
  </resource>
  <attribution>
    <logoWidth>0</logoWidth>
    <logoHeight>0</logoHeight>
  </attribution>
</layer>

So you would need to add a new defaultStyle or style block and then PUT it back to the layer endpoint.