Theo's Typesafe Cult•2y ago

REST API Best Practice

As a general rule of thumb, should you always provide the same data for a resource back, if in one form it is an array, and the other is just that one resourse? For example, if I have courses. I could have a /course GET route that gets me back all of the courses for the user I could have a /course/:id GET route that gets me back a specific course Should the /course response contain an array of /course/:id responses? Think of a dashboard, where all of the user courses are displayed (/course route is used). I am unsure if I should only return what the page uses, or everything? Thanks!

11 Replies

PerfectOP•2y ago

So for example, I have a card like this for each course. Currently my /course route is only returning the owner name, course name, code, and member count. This is the only spot this route will be used, so I think it is ok? Once the user actually clicks this course, the /course/:id route will be used to get all of the details for that course.

[{
    "id": 1,
    "name": "CS999",
    "code": "Y7UM2OC",
    "role": 2,
    "owner_name": "Joseph Petrillo",
    "member_count": 1
}, {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "CS888",
    "code": "BEA8AZ7",
    "role": 2,
    "owner_name": "Joseph Petrillo",
    "member_count": 2
}]

[{
    "id": 1,
    "name": "CS999",
    "code": "Y7UM2OC",
    "role": 2,
    "owner_name": "Joseph Petrillo",
    "member_count": 1
}, {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "CS888",
    "code": "BEA8AZ7",
    "role": 2,
    "owner_name": "Joseph Petrillo",
    "member_count": 2
}]

caxco93•2y ago

hi again

PerfectOP•2y ago

@caxco93 hey 😆

caxco93•2y ago

first of all, if you want good practices then your endpoints should be in plural for each resource. yeah you have several options here. what you say is indeed a way to go. if you are sure indeed you will only end up using that endpoint there you can leave it like that. however, in theory, you have 2 other options. 1. add the ability to specify which fields you want for each resource. that way you can do something like /resources?fields=id,name,code,owner_name . this is basically one of the things GraphQL aims to solve (not recommending you to use it. i'm just stating it) 2. create 2 different endpoints. 1 for your homepage where you get just a bunch of the fields you need e.g /homepageResources and then another endpoint that returns all the fields as usual eg /resources however you can see how the option 1 seems more robust. the solution you propose and the solution 2 I propose are probably only good if you want to ship fast. in theory the option 1 here is the "acceptable" response but yeah you always have to question yourself. do you want to ship or do you want to make lots of abstractions that you will only end up using once

caxco93•2y ago

mandatory xkcd

PerfectOP•2y ago

ah damn I should do plural here /courses and /courses/:id are much better Did not think of option 1, that is definitely smart' So many choices, but I guess if I do not do option 1 there is no need for me to change to option 2

caxco93•2y ago

yeah if you are certain you will just use it for that page then just go ahead small technical debt if you ever end up needing to add a new endpoint

PerfectOP•2y ago

At the moment I am 80% sure - so I guess if I need to change it in the future I will create option 1 Yep exactly

caxco93•2y ago

for different fields or w/e

PerfectOP•2y ago

Appreciate the help!!

caxco93•2y ago

😉

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