REST + microformats as a Bugzilla API

[Jochen Wiedmann]

On 10/17/06, Max Kanat-Alexander <mkanat at bugzilla.org> wrote:

>         Usually I like to have some consumer who wants something, before we
> implement it. For example, we have *lots* of people who have wanted the
> XML-RPC interface for a long time, so that gives us a good idea of how
> to implement it, because they'll say "Oh, it really needs to do THIS."
>
>         It would be interesting to know who our REST clients would be, and we
> could give them what they'd be most interested in.

I believe the discussion only demonstrates that the web services
interface should be (and possibly is?) designed in a manner that
allows to separate transport and logic. Assuming that the XML-RPC
interface takes as input mainly scalar variables (like those created
from an HTML form), then it should be one or two hours work to add a
REST interface, should that be required.

Also note, that a REST interface is clearly less powerful than a fully
blown SOAP interface or an XML-RPC interface. In particular, the
latter allow to transmit hashes, arrays, and nested data structures.
May be we don't need that now, but why forfeit the possibility without
a good reason?

Jochen


-- 
My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not
once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce;
murder, yes, but divorce, never.
(Jack Benny)