diff --git a/AnkiServer/apps/rest_app.py b/AnkiServer/apps/rest_app.py
index fd5cf2c..d0f7edb 100644
--- a/AnkiServer/apps/rest_app.py
+++ b/AnkiServer/apps/rest_app.py
@@ -63,13 +63,6 @@ class RestApp(object):
             self.add_handler_group('deck', DeckHandlerGroup())
             self.add_handler_group('note', NoteHandlerGroup())
 
-    def _get_path(self, path):
-        npath = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(self.data_root, path, 'collection.anki2'))
-        if npath[0:len(self.data_root)] != self.data_root:
-            # attempting to escape our data jail!
-            raise HTTPBadRequest('"%s" is not a valid path/id' % path)
-        return npath
-
     def add_handler(self, type, name, handler):
         """Adds a callback handler for a type (collection, deck, card) with a unique name.
         
@@ -97,8 +90,8 @@ class RestApp(object):
                     method = _RestHandlerWrapper(group.__class__.__name__ + '.' + name, method, group.hasReturnValue)
                 self.add_handler(type, name, method)
 
-    @wsgify
-    def __call__(self, req):
+    def _checkRequest(self, req):
+        """Raises an exception if the request isn't allowed or valid for some reason."""
         if self.allowed_hosts != '*':
             try:
                 remote_addr = req.headers['X-Forwarded-For']
@@ -106,12 +99,17 @@ class RestApp(object):
                 remote_addr = req.remote_addr
             if remote_addr != self.allowed_hosts:
                 raise HTTPForbidden()
-
+        
         if req.method != 'POST':
             raise HTTPMethodNotAllowed(allow=['POST'])
 
+    def _parsePath(self, path):
+        """Takes a request path and returns a tuple containing the handler type, name
+        and a list of ids.
+
+        Raises an HTTPNotFound exception if the path is invalid."""
+
         # split the URL into a list of parts
-        path = req.path
         if path[0] == '/':
             path = path[1:]
         parts = path.split('/')
@@ -136,9 +134,25 @@ class RestApp(object):
         else:
             name = parts[0]
 
-        # get the collection path
-        collection_path = self._get_path(ids[0])
-        print collection_path
+        return (type, name, ids)
+
+    def _getCollectionPath(self, collection_id):
+        """Returns the path to the collection based on the collection_id from the request.
+        
+        Raises HTTPBadRequest if the collection_id is invalid."""
+
+        path = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(self.data_root, collection_id, 'collection.anki2'))
+        if path[0:len(self.data_root)] != self.data_root:
+            # attempting to escape our data jail!
+            raise HTTPBadRequest('"%s" is not a valid collection' % collection_id)
+
+        return path
+
+    def _getHandler(self, type, name):
+        """Returns a tuple containing handler function for this type and name, and a boolean flag
+        if that handler has a return value.
+
+        Raises an HTTPNotFound exception if the handler doesn't exist."""
 
         # get the handler function
         try:
@@ -151,6 +165,13 @@ class RestApp(object):
         if hasattr(handler, 'hasReturnValue'):
             hasReturnValue = handler.hasReturnValue
 
+        return (handler, hasReturnValue)
+
+    def _parseRequestBody(self, req):
+        """Parses the request body (JSON) into a Python dict and returns it.
+
+        Raises an HTTPBadRequest exception if the request isn't valid JSON."""
+        
         try:
             data = json.loads(req.body)
         except ValueError, e:
@@ -159,6 +180,26 @@ class RestApp(object):
         # make the keys into non-unicode strings
         data = dict([(str(k), v) for k, v in data.items()])
 
+        return data
+
+    @wsgify
+    def __call__(self, req):
+        # make sure the request is valid
+        self._checkRequest(req)
+
+        # parse the path
+        type, name, ids = self._parsePath(req.path)
+
+        # get the collection path
+        collection_path = self._getCollectionPath(ids[0])
+        print collection_path
+
+        # get the handler function
+        handler, hasReturnValue = self._getHandler(type, name)
+
+        # parse the request body
+        data = self._parseRequestBody(req)
+
         # debug
         from pprint import pprint
         pprint(data)
diff --git a/tests/test_rest_app.py b/tests/test_rest_app.py
index 6278f44..35a7a6e 100644
--- a/tests/test_rest_app.py
+++ b/tests/test_rest_app.py
@@ -5,11 +5,32 @@ import tempfile
 import unittest
 
 import AnkiServer
-from AnkiServer.apps.rest_app import CollectionHandlerGroup, DeckHandlerGroup
+from AnkiServer.collection import CollectionManager
+from AnkiServer.apps.rest_app import RestApp, CollectionHandlerGroup, DeckHandlerGroup
 
 import anki
 import anki.storage
 
+class RestAppTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.collection_manager = CollectionManager()
+        self.rest_app = RestApp(self.temp_dir, collection_manager=self.collection_manager)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.collection_manager.shutdown()
+        self.collection_manager = None
+        self.rest_app = None
+        shutil.rmtree(self.temp_dir)
+
+    def test_parsePath(self):
+        tests = [
+            ('collection/aoeu', ('collection', 'index', ['aoeu'])),
+        ]
+
+        for path, result in tests:
+            self.assertEqual(self.rest_app._parsePath(path), result)
+
 class CollectionTestBase(unittest.TestCase):
     """Parent class for tests that need a collection set up and torn down."""