On Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 8:42:12 PM UTC-7, [email protected] wrote: > > Thanks, Massimo. I can see how that would work well in the web2py > environment. > > In our organization, however, we have heterogeneous systems that use REST > interfaces to share data. So, I am hoping to find a solution that aligns > as closely as possible with REST principles. > > JSON appears to align with REST principle. From Wikipedia: "Unlike SOAP <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOAP>-based web services, there is no "official" standard for RESTful web APIs.[10] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer#cite_note-Elkstein-10> This is because REST is an architectural style, while SOAP is a protocol. Even though REST is not a standard *per se*, most RESTful implementations make use of standards such as HTTP <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP>, URI <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URI>, JSON <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON>, and XML <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML>." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer#cite_note-Elkstein-10> <URL:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer>
However, your resources may already use a defined API in a non-JSON form. RedHat, for instance, has a RESTful storage API that uses XML. In the Web2Py book, chapter 10 has a section on XMLRPC that may be helpful, as well as the REST section: <URL:http://www.web2py.com/books/default/chapter/29/10/services#Restful-Web-Services> If the resources are not yet defined, you have the option of choosing any of above choices, and perhaps others, as fits your needs, while still being RESTful. /dps > > > On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 10:38:36 PM UTC-7, Massimo Di Pierro wrote: >> >> Hello Kevin, >> >> the best way is to make an Ajax request with content type 'application/json' >> and put the JSON search_criteria into the HTTP request body. For example: >> >> curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" - X POST -d "{...}" >> http://..../mypage >> >> where {...} is your JSON object. Then in the web2py app >> >> def mypage(): >> data = request.post_vars >> ... >> >> data will contain the parsed JSON as a python object. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Tuesday, 19 May 2015 19:50:22 UTC-5, [email protected] >> wrote: >>> >>> We are developing a RESTful API. One of our use cases requires that we >>> query a resource with somewhat complex search criteria. Internally, the >>> search criteria would be represented by a data structure similar to this: >>> >>> search_criteria = {'date':'5/31/2015', >>> 'locations':[{'location_name':'Los Angeles', >>> 'attendees':10, >>> 'services':['Housekeeping','Catering'] >>> }, >>> {'location_name':'New York', >>> 'attendees':5, >>> 'services':['Housekeeping'] >>> } >>> ], >>> 'duration':60 >>> >>> } >>> >>> >>> What would be a recommended strategy for passing complex query parameters >>> to a RESTful API built with web2py? >>> >>> >>> Our short term solution has been to provide simple query parameters that >>> can contain delimited values. For example: >>> >>> >>> GET .../api/available_resources/?date=2015-05-31&locations=Los >>> Angeles|New >>> York&attendees=10|5&services=Housekeeping,Catering|Housekeeping&duration=60 >>> >>> >>> But, this seems less than ideal. It is not intuitive that Los Angeles >>> should be associated with 10 attendees and the two specified services. >>> >>> >>> Options we have considered include: >>> >>> >>> - Treating the search criteria as a resource. Thus, we would first POST >>> the complex search criteria and receive a handle in return. Then, we would >>> GET available_resources, passing the search criteria handle. (This seems >>> to be messy regarding how to handle the search criteria. Is it stored >>> statefully in the session? Is it written to the database? When would it >>> get cleaned up?) >>> - Treat the search as a command. We would POST a resource search >>> command with a JSON representation of the search criteria in the body. >>> - Implement oData parsing for the query string. (While it is true that >>> oData syntax could be constructed to meet the needs, yikes!, that's a lot >>> of overhead for the API consumer and the API parser.) >>> >>> Are any of these considered best practice? Or, is there yet another >>> strategy that we could consider? >>> >>> Many thanks for your help! >>> >>> Kevin >>> >>> >>> >>> -- Resources: - http://web2py.com - http://web2py.com/book (Documentation) - http://github.com/web2py/web2py (Source code) - https://code.google.com/p/web2py/issues/list (Report Issues) --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "web2py-users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
