On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Michael Jett <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 7:28 PM, Chris Geer <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Some additional comments below: > > > > On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 7:01 PM, Erin Noe-Payne < > [email protected] > > >wrote: > > > > > Hey all, sorry I've been absent from this thread. I've caught up now > > > and have a few thoughts: > > > > > > - As discussed before, the REST api should have CRUD endpoints that > > > support all data retrieval and manipulation for any case that we wish > > > for RAVE to allow. These endpoints should not be optimized for > > > specific client application / library needs. > > > - In addition we have some number of endpoints (currently one) that > > > optimize for specific client needs. In this case we are talking about > > > the pages for render endpoint, which serves 3 purposes: > > > 1) Filter to the set of pages by context and identifier > > > 2) Aggregate nested data for one read operation that gives all data > > > necessary to render > > > 3) Attach special properties to regionWidgets needed to render the > > > iframes (rpc tokens) > > > - The data structure we retrieve from the render endpoint should not > > > be different from the models sent / consumed by the CRUD endpoints. > > > > > > > So using your example above....the regionWidget CRUD model should have > rpc > > token? > > > > > > > The render endpoint is read-only, so any data manipulation that > > > follows will be interacting with the CRUD endpoints. This is not > > > specific to angular - any client technology will be consuming the > > > render endpoint and feeding back that data in the case of updates. > > > Again, render endpoint is only filtering, aggregating nested data, > > > attaching render properties to regionWidget. Otherwise I don't see a > > > reason the data models should differ. > > > > > > -A regionwidget should probably just have a mutable title property. At > > > time of creation the title can be copied from the widget it is an > > > instance of, but afterwards it can be changed by the user. F.E if I > > > have 3 instances of a map widget or a weather widget or something on > > > my page, I may want to title them differently anyway. > > > > > > > I support this +1 as long as it's mutable. > > > > > > > > - I don't really know the best way to deal with relationships. My > > > instinct is that resources that have a one-to-X relationship should > > > simply have the id of that relationship as a property. For example, > > > each region has a pageId property. Each regionWidget has a pageId and > > > regionId property. Then these relationships are atomically mutable via > > > a PUT request. Many-to-many relationships should be modeled via their > > > own resource. So for example user-to-users friend should correspond to > > > a friends resource that can be POSTed and DELETEd. > > > > > > > My opinion is our data model is bad on the server. A RegionWidget > shouldn't > > have a RegionID or PageID because they really shouldn't be mutable. I > > realize this is a backend problem, not a REST problem exactly. I'm just > > arguing we don't extend that to the REST interface so we can fix the > > backend problem later. I don't like a situation where you can have a url > > and data that can contradict. > > > > +1 - I think that this is a great point Chris. What planning or > coordination would it take to fix this backend problem? > I don't think fixing the backend problem is our primary concern as we can work around it. My recommendation would be to design the REST API in such a way as it makes the most sense, then we can fix the backend. > > > > > > > - Angular doesn't really care about this stuff. We have started > > > implementing according to what exists currently. If the api changes, > > > then it will create some refactoring on the client. That's fine - > > > $resource is just json objects anyway, so it can handle it. However... > > > - We really just need consistency. My impression so far is that we > > > don't really have any practical expertise on building a robust REST > > > api around a complicated data set. Short of that expertise showing up > > > on the list, we really just need to rally around one strategy and > > > implement it consistently. > > > > > > > Well, that's not entirely true ;) At the end of the day, this data model > > really isn't all that complex (the rendering part). Page contains 0-n > > Regions which contain 0-n Region Widgets. There is no reason why a > > RegionWidget needs a reference to the page it's on directly, that should > be > > derived by which resource it's retrieved from. It's that way on the > backend > > because our backed just mirrors the SQL table and it's foreign keys. If > we > > had started this project with a NoSQL database, we never would have had > > those attributes on those objects (probably wouldn't have used JPA > either). > > > > Using Mongo as an example, we never would have done this for a page... > > > > { > > id: 123, > > regions: [ > > { > > id: 332, > > page_id: 123, > > region_widgets: [ > > { > > id: 454, > > region_id: 332 > > } > > ] > > } > > ] > > } > > > > We would have stored page as a single document and not broken Regions and > > RegionWidgets out into separate top level objects. > > > > > That makes sense. The REST interface would give us an opportunity to > consolidate and hide the relational keys, presenting objects in a "natural" > state. (i.e. pages, users) Rather than breaking it down into proprietary > sub-object jargon. (i.e. RegionWidgets...) > Bingo!! Now we are on the same page. > > > > Chris > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 1:29 PM, Chris Geer <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > Dan, > > > > > > > > My proposal is that on the server side, we do not add the extra > > > attributes > > > > to the REST model. Instead we have the render endpoint that will > return > > > the > > > > full object tree with the extra attributes. So on the server side > there > > > > would be a different object like you said i.e. RenderedRegionWidget. > An > > > > alternative is to not create an objet and just build the JSON > directly > > > for > > > > the render endpoint. > > > > > > > > I'm also ok with the server ignoring unknown attributes on a > > save/update. > > > > > > > > Chris > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 3:56 AM, Dan Gornstein <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > >> Chris, > > > >> > > > >> I think I was a bit confused before and might have been inaccurate > in > > > what > > > >> I was trying to say. I have been thinking about it a bit more had a > > few > > > >> more questions for you. > > > >> > > > >> The endpoint which returns information for rendering a page is a > > nested > > > >> object and I agree should be read only, meaning you cannot post to > the > > > same > > > >> endpoint with the nested data model to save your object. In the > > angular > > > >> branch right now, when we hit this endpoint we break down the > response > > > into > > > >> their individual angular resource objects (page, regions, > > regionWidgets) > > > >> which point to the CRUD interfaces. > > > >> > > > >> The way the pages for render endpoint works right now is to use > > > pageService > > > >> to get the canonical model of a page and transform it into the REST > > > model > > > >> and send it through the DefaultRenderService to prepare the > > > regionWidgets. > > > >> This means it ends up returning the REST model of RegionWidgets in > the > > > >> pages for render endpoint. So if you wanted to add the pageId and > > title, > > > >> they would have to be properties on the RegionWidget REST model. Are > > you > > > >> proposing that we make this pages for render endpoint be compiled > with > > > >> different model objects other than the REST ones? Would there be > > > something > > > >> along the lines of RegionWidgetRender, which has the extra > properties > > > but > > > >> does not have CRUD operations? > > > >> > > > >> If this was the case and we did not add pageId and title to the REST > > > models > > > >> of RegionWidgets, what will happen if we hit the pages for render > > > endpoint > > > >> and in angular still broke them down into their individual resource > > > >> objects? Would you be allowed to save a RegionWidget to > > > >> > /pages/<page-id>/regions/<region-id>/regionwidgets/<region-widget-id> > > > which > > > >> had title and pageId on it and the server would ignore it, or would > > you > > > >> expect the server to throw an error? > > > >> > > > >> Thanks, > > > >> Dan > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 1:21 PM, Michael Jett <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > >> > > > >> > I'd like to pause this discussion for a brief moment, and advise > > that > > > we > > > >> > watch this APIGee video. > > > >> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QpAhXa12xvU > > > >> > > > > >> > This is something that Erin pointed us to early on, and serves as > a > > > basis > > > >> > for a good RESTful architecture. There are too many good points > made > > > that > > > >> > will allow our API to scale and be intuitive for other developers. > > > >> > > > > >> > It's very important that we are on the same page. I believe a lot > of > > > >> > "format" questions will be answered by following the APIGee > > > guidelines. > > > >> > > > > >> > - Mike > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 6:30 PM, Chris Geer < > [email protected]> > > > >> wrote: > > > >> > > > > >> > > Since we've been having a lot of discussions on data structures > > > lately > > > >> I > > > >> > > wanted to write down what my suggestions were. These aren't 100% > > > >> complete > > > >> > > examples but show the relationships > > > >> > > > > > >> > > CRUD Interfaces > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Page (/pages/<page-id>) > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > owner: <owner>, > > > >> > > regionIds: [ > > > >> > > <id>, <id>, <id> (region order is based on order in list, > > not > > > >> field > > > >> > > on region object) > > > >> > > ] > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Region (/pages/<page-id>/regions/<region-id> > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > regionWidgetIds: [ > > > >> > > <id>, <id>, <id> (widget order is based on order in list, > > not > > > >> field > > > >> > > on region widget object) > > > >> > > ] > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Region Widget > > > >> > > > > > (/pages/<page-id>/regions/<region-id>/regionwidgets/<region-widget-id> > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > widgetId: <widgetId>, > > > >> > > collapsed: <collapsed>, > > > >> > > ... > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Region Widget > > > >> > > Properties > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > > (/pages/<page-id>/regions/<region-id>/regionwidgets/<region-widget-id/properties/<propertyId>) > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > .... > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Widget (/widgets/<widget-id> > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id> > > > >> > > title: <title> > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Render Interface (custom mime-type) (Read Only) > > > >> > > > > > >> > > /pages/<page-id> > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > regions: [ > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > regionWidgets: [ > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > id: <id>, > > > >> > > widgetId: <widgetId>, > > > >> > > title: <title>, > > > >> > > properties: [ > > > >> > > { > > > >> > > key: <key>, > > > >> > > value: <value> > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > ] > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > ] > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > ] > > > >> > > } > > > >> > > > > > >> > > You should also be able to render sub elements below a page so > for > > > >> > example, > > > >> > > > > > >> > > /pages/<page-id>/regions/<region-id> with the custom mime-type > > would > > > >> > render > > > >> > > a single region. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Obviously there is still room for uncertainty in some places. > For > > > >> > example, > > > >> > > what happens if your have a region with three region widgets > then > > > you > > > >> > save > > > >> > > the region but only include two ids in the list? Personally, I > > think > > > >> that > > > >> > > should delete the missing regionWidget because that list denotes > > > >> > ordering. > > > >> > > The reason I don't like an "order" attribute on the sub objects > is > > > that > > > >> > > what if you save two sub objects with the same order (which > would > > > >> happen > > > >> > if > > > >> > > you ever wanted to swap two objects in order because you have to > > > update > > > >> > > them then save each one so they would have the same order at > least > > > >> > > momentarily on the server)? > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Anyway, my 2-cents. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Chris > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > >
