Application Programming Interface (API) Design discusses best practises for creating libraries intended for general purpose or public use.
5
votes
2answers
56 views
Partitioning REST API resources into areas based on business domains
In a major application REST API that covers several related domains, does it make more sense to split resources into 'areas' based on the business domain they belong to or is it better to to maintain ...
0
votes
1answer
27 views
JSON schema design for variable response
I am drafting a JSON schema for an API. One of the responses aims to show all the updates to different properties of an given entity. The number of updates may vary from one response to another. For ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
API design for modular apps
Let's assume a web app made of independent modules:
example.com/accounting
example.com/employees
example.com/admin
Next step is adding an API which normally might end like this:
...
0
votes
2answers
88 views
Idiomatic C API with regards to pointers
I am trying to get a better understanding of how one would structure an API in C.
I create a struct Person
I have a init function that sets data on that struct
I have multiple "helper" functions ...
6
votes
1answer
145 views
RESTfully Returning Diagnostics Data With Response
In a REST API I am working with, under certain circumstances (ex/ request originated in network) diagnostics data is returned with the response. Right now, a property is appended to the root object of ...
7
votes
1answer
195 views
Should I build undo stack in model or its wrapper?
I am building an application (Python/PyQt). The first-order item will be a tree view/model with many helper functions to add new items, move them around in the tree, etc.. Then I will have a main ...
2
votes
1answer
91 views
Is it bad to use POST only on an API?
I'm about to develop a new API for our website. Part of the design I've considered to use the POST and GET methods but after reading some security stuff I realise that GET is a bit less secure(i.e. ...
1
vote
1answer
42 views
REST API, nested routes without providing identifiers at every nested level
Obviously a RESTful API could contain base routes such as:
api/competitions
api/competitions/{id}
api/teams
api/teams/{id}
api/players
api/players/{id}
And nested routes such as:
...
1
vote
3answers
56 views
Representing a “Belongs to” relationship in an API endpoint
Consider the following pseudo code models:
class Post
int Id
string Title
int CategoryId
Category Category
class Category
int Id
string Name
Note that Post belongs to ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
API Design when modifying resource data based on user roles (access levels)
I'm trying to figure out the best (and most RESTful) way to handle user roles in regards to the data returned.
For example, for a resource named user, we only show obfuscated_id to regular users and ...
0
votes
0answers
40 views
Richardson Maturity Level 3. What about form input
In many ways RMM level 3 is similar to the world wide web we know where every resource is available with the click of a link.
In www we have links, but we also have forms where a form with ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
What is the idiomatic way in REST to handle field level permissions?
REST APIs conventionally expose resources addressed at the object level. While it's easy to do object level permissions using the appropriate HTTP responses, handling field level permissions is a bit ...
7
votes
6answers
485 views
Many small requests vs. few large requests (API Design)
I'm currently working on a project with an organization as follows:
Client - Gets data from the main server via REST api.
Server - Requests data from various other servers via third-party APIs
...
2
votes
2answers
127 views
Technique to synchronize error codes in a same-project-API
In the project I am working right now, we have some python and some C# code. At some point, I call from python a subprocess which starts a C# executable. This C# code returns an error code, which has ...
0
votes
1answer
41 views
How to API design architecture for long delay process
Im trying to start an API design using Django Rest Framework, and the problem Im trying to solve is the following:
Request endpoint is like this:
POST
http://server:8080/api/v1/device
attribute: ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
Why does this API include a static “kind” parameter in the request and response?
I am looking at the Google QPX Express API and noticed that each group of parameters includes a kind parameter that is set to a specific string. For example, on the request:
{
"request": {
...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
best way to export binary data with additional text attributes to a stream
I would like to create a command line API in a Java application to export a binary blob to stdout. I would additionally like to export certain attributes about the blob, ideally in a non-binary ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
Do RESTful API controllers typically only provide resources related to their own type?
Let's say my API has the following routes:
GET /theaters
GET /theaters/:id
GET /theaters/:id/movies
GET /movies
GET /movies/:id
GET /movies/:id/theaters
And then I have the following controllers ...
1
vote
2answers
733 views
REST API - Should API Return Nested JSON Objects?
When it comes to JSON APIs is it good practice to flatten out responses and avoid nested JSON objects?
As an example lets say we have an API similar to IMDb but for video games. There are a couple ...
2
votes
1answer
152 views
Trying to process partial POST of data in REST when some data is successful?
I have a resource that accepts array of numbers. Each number is proceed interdependently, and computation fails are expected. How should I communicate to API client "some of your numbers couldn't be ...
1
vote
0answers
96 views
Web Api design - Using Nouns vs verbs
I have this design situation at work. We have a internal Web-Api application and a Asp.Net Web forms application(UI). The web-application is calling Web-Api to update a Contractor.
public Class ...
1
vote
1answer
161 views
Does ORM at any point become a “requirement” for RESTful API?
I've started building a RESTful API in PHP's Slim framework. The framework appealed to me because of its light-weight design and routing features. I am using PostgreSQL for the database.
However, ...
1
vote
2answers
43 views
HTTP status code for mobile clients
There was a debate with one of the platform engineers (as a mobile dev), about the codes being returned.
The scenario is: when trying to create a resource the server is returning a 201 with the ...
1
vote
2answers
38 views
Using many Resource URI to create a Record and handling failure
Hi Guys,
I have a decision to make to solve a problem, I’m describing the problem below.
Application Overview
I have an ASP.NET MVC 4 webApp which uses Rest Api for almost all the tasks, from Login ...
3
votes
1answer
131 views
Web API Design advice
I am developing a Web API as services layer for a ASP.NET web forms application.
There are two controllers ContractorController (gives details about the contractor) and PaymentsController (gives ...
1
vote
2answers
140 views
Is it better to perform a calculation in the field's setter or have a different method?
I'm implementing a simple Quota object which determines a usage percentage based on the maximum and the used.
private int maximum;
private int used;
public Quota(int used, int maximum) {
...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Best way to keep consistent data in model across devices?
I have a model for an app that is fairly large, all of which needs to be on a users' device at the same time. For example, a spreadsheet. If a user makes a change to the model on one device, I want ...
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Individual methods or parameters for Google Analytics abstraction on Android
A coworker and I are having a discussion around the best way to build our abstraction on top of Google Analytics for an Android application. A couple of data points.
We have auto-tracking enabled ...
3
votes
4answers
403 views
int * vs int [N] vs int (*)[N] in functions parameters. Which one do you think is better?
When programming in C (or C++) there are three different ways to specify the parameter in a function that takes an array.
Here is an example (implementing std::accumulate from C++ in C) that shows ...
4
votes
1answer
195 views
Using macros to protect assignment to global variables
Because there is no language feature in C to protect assignment to global variables would you recommend doing something like this?
Take this example:
We have a module with the header file called ...
1
vote
0answers
215 views
How can I use protected Tastypie resources within Angular?
I have a working Django 1.7 project with an API (Tastypie) made available for mobile clients (ApiKeyAuthentication).
I am using Angular with Chart.js, and so I need to GET some queryset using ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
What is the correct way to publish a runtime? Should it be a singleton?
I have a compiler for a programming language that targets JavaScript. That language needs some global functions such as: alloc, memcpy, write and so on. My question is: where should I position those ...
2
votes
4answers
67 views
Handle server-side/client-side when for showing missing information as placeholders
I have a database table which stores Incident details. Each Incident can have an image saved for it. There are some Incidents which will not have an image for it.
I have an API which pulls the image ...
3
votes
5answers
494 views
Why is the hashCode method usage of HashSet not specified in the API?
I was trying to debug my code which uses a HashSet and searching through the SO, I found out that I needed to override the hashCode method as well. The strange part is, checking the related API, I did ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
Posting different-shaped json documents to the same resource in an API
Is it a good idea to create an API in such a way that clients can post different shaped JSON documents to the same Resource? Let me give you an example and and explanation to why I am asking this.
I ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views
Should a web app for a service access its data via its own API or directly?
I'm building a service that will consist of mobile and desktop apps, which will require me to build my own RESTful web API to easily keep the data for the service in sync. I am also building a web ...
4
votes
2answers
128 views
Changing method signature while keeping backwards compatibility
I've inherited an API to maintain.
Users can pass a callback function to the class which gets called on some event. The callback function is currently passed in a single argument.
I need to change ...
1
vote
0answers
70 views
OO Design Question - Library/Objects for API which includes id references
Public api:
getClients / getClientById - returns a json object like:
{ clientid: 1, name: "Client1" }
getProjects / getProjectById - returns a json object like
{ projectid: 5, name: ...
22
votes
3answers
1k views
RESTful API: HTTP verbs with shared or specific URLs?
While creating a RESTful API, should I use HTTP Verbs on the same URL (when it's possible) or should I create an specific URL per action?
For example:
GET /items # Read all items
GET ...
4
votes
3answers
192 views
How to safely chain several API requests for a single user
I am writing a web application with Python and Flask. At a high-level, the web service takes an ID, downloads a file from a third-party API based on that ID, reads and analyzes the data inside the ...
2
votes
2answers
153 views
How to deal with multiple “entry points” for an action in a REST API?
Let's say we have two kinds of resources, user and group.
Every user can belong to multiple groups and each group can have many members.
Thus I can model my API like this
/
|_ /users/{id}
| |_ ...
4
votes
1answer
394 views
Why PATCH method is not idempotent?
I was wondering about this.
Suppose I have a user resource with id and name fields.
If I want to update a field I could just do a PATCH request to the resource like this
PATCH /users/42
{"name": ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
What should my RESTful API method look like for a Roulette game?
I'm building a roulette game for fun, and the game will use a RESTful API. I'm building out the functionality for spinning the roulette wheel.
I'm using MongoDB and have a collection for players
_id
...
3
votes
1answer
182 views
A “Composite API” layer
We are giving services a complete overhaul at work: Swapping soap for rest, resculpting the domains to give better separation of concerns, etc.
These new services will be publicly available. During ...
2
votes
2answers
189 views
Designing an API with access tokens, how to handle GET requests?
I am building an API that will utilize access tokens so that I can track usage among various departments and for access control. My plan is to utilize the HTTP verbs appropriately - GET will retrieve ...
0
votes
0answers
47 views
Java API initialization step
I am developing an Android Library which involves both Network and Bluetooth communication. In order to start using the library it must be configured. In other words a request to the backend must be ...
0
votes
0answers
28 views
How to Handle Multiple Versions of a REST API [duplicate]
At an interview I was asked the following question.
You are giving out a rest API and you know that there will be multiple versions of it. The API methods will remain the same across versions but the ...
0
votes
1answer
140 views
Sending multiple resources under REST endpoints
I am designing an API where-
1. There can be multiple devices under a gateway.
2. There are multiple sensors on every device.
GET /devices/d1/sensors/s1 returns the status of sensor s1 on device ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
Add new/modify existing callback to/in API
I am working on a common API for a user interface. My colleagues use this framework in all their projects, but the UI is not our main aspect here, so the knowledge of the UI framework is somewhat ...
0
votes
1answer
35 views
Migrating single-layer ORM based app to multi-layer API
I'm trying to understand what is the best way of migrating a website that works in a single layer and gets all the data via an ORM, to one that uses multiple layers, using an API backend to get the ...
