Yes - URIs are opaque. But f.e. the Jersey Client API explicitly supports adding query parameters to a WebResource object. So I think it would be a good idea to support that. For me a URI (in a sense of a path) should define a resource and should not be dependent of an internal state (what it's the case if we append query parameter to an URI). Nevertheless I know that query parameter do belong to an URI, so it's more a personal thing.
I have nothing against JSON. It's a really simple, non type safe way to handle objects, but simplicity can be an advantage. It is fast and I can use it with Jersey and with JavaScript very easy, all what I need is already there. I am very curios about how it will feel to get a complete graph from the Neo4j Rest server using a sequence of REST calls with jQuery/native JavaScript (the little project I am doing in my spare time) Christopher On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Rick Bullotta < [email protected]> wrote: > There is nothing fundamentally wrong with JSON (o.k. maybe a *few* things), > but with the right structures, it or any format can be completely > self-describing. I have found that including a bit of additional metadata > in > the content helps IMMENSELY for both loosely-coupled and tightly-coupled > applications. The more it self-describes the content, the better. > > Jim, now that you're on the Neo team, I would like to show you the > (domain-specific) REST API we've put around Neo for our application > sometime. Might stimulate some thoughts on your work and provide us some > valuable feedback as well. > > We were planning to do a demo for Peter & team sometime next week, so LMK > if > you're interested and your availability off-list. > > Cheers, > > Rick > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On > Behalf Of Jim Webber > Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 9:04 AM > To: Neo4j user discussions > Subject: [SPAM] Re: [Neo4j] REST Server API > > Hi Christopher, > > > Yes I know what you mean, the "{}" are part of the JAX-RS specification. > > They're part of the URI template specification. JAX-RS uses these URI > templates. > > > The Neo4j Rest server uses HTTP and JSON thats true, but it violates IMHO > > some of the REST principles. I think that a technical interface should > > contain, if the content is a link, a "well formed" URI. I know that a > String > > like "GET /node/123/relationships/{dir}/{-list|&|types}" means that there > > are optional parameter or something like this. Thats OK for a description > in > > a Wiki page but not in a returned JSON object. > > It's OK for both, but I agree that in general I prefer fully formed URIs. > We'll need to tweak the response representations to include this. > > > The String "GET /node/123/relationships/out/KNOWS&LOVES" is used as a > > query parameter. If it is used as a parameter for a query it should be a > > URL-query parameter. > > Not necessarily. URIs are opaque, it's only because you're a smart human > that you can infer something from a string like that, but a machine can't. > > > Using "POST /node/123/traverse/{returnType}" I can traverse though the > > nodes, where returnType is the definition of the kind of objects I want > to > > have returned. In the basic REST sense POST is a Insert method where a > newly > > created ressource will be returned in the Location tag of a HTTP Header. > For > > me this POST is a GET as well, maybe with some query parameter. > > Agree with you on that - a traversal is a query and so should be a GET. > There was a thread on that a while back if I remember correctly. The API > will change in future iterations, this would be one of the changes I'd > favour. > > > If you want to distinguish the returned Types, maybe it is a good idea to > > use custom mime types for node, path and relation, if you want to use the > > same URI for all. > > I don't like creating custom mime types, but at the same time I don't like > JSON (because it's not a hypermedia format, it doesn't understand links). > My > preference would be to use Clojure data structures (once the Clojure guys > have embedded the URI abstraction in the core), and create a standard media > type based on Clojure - but I am a dreamer. > > In the meantime, I suspect we're stuck with this non-standard use of JSON. > > Jim > > PS - Bring on the controversial comments about the REST API, they're good > possible requirements for us. > PPS - I wrote a book about some of this REST stuff with Savas Parastatidis > and Ian Robinson. See: http://restinpractice.com > > > > And to be clear, I like this interface very much :-) > > > > Christopher > > > > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Jim Webber <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> Hi Christopher, > >> > >>> http://localhost:9999/node/1/relationships/in/{-list|&|types}" > >> > >> This is a URI template, inviting you to replace the {...} with values of > >> your own. In this case it's giving you the opportunity to provide a list > of > >> ampersand separated types. > >> > >> Now I believe this URI template syntax is out of date compared to the > >> current spec, but I'll have to validate that. > >> > >> Perhaps it's even worth thinking about designing this out of the REST > API > >> as we move forwards with Neo4j server. Hmmm.... > >> > >> Jim > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Neo4j mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://lists.neo4j.org/mailman/listinfo/user > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > Christopher > > twitter: @fakod > > blog: http://blog.fakod.eu > > _______________________________________________ > > Neo4j mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.neo4j.org/mailman/listinfo/user > > _______________________________________________ > Neo4j mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.neo4j.org/mailman/listinfo/user > > _______________________________________________ > Neo4j mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.neo4j.org/mailman/listinfo/user > -- Christopher twitter: @fakod blog: http://blog.fakod.eu _______________________________________________ Neo4j mailing list [email protected] https://lists.neo4j.org/mailman/listinfo/user
