Challenge

[Michael D. Ivey]

On Nov 16, 2007, at 3:48 AM, Brian Candler wrote:
> Presumably it also has something like
>   def index
>     @monkeys = Monkey.find(:all)
>   end

Yep just left them out for brevity.  They're the standard CRUD actions.

> What do you mean by 'API' here? Or is the idea to explore all the
> possibilities which might be implied?

By "Perfect API" I meant, "Assume Merb is your Perfect Framework, and  
works exactly as it should.
What would you have to change in your app, using Merb's perfect API,  
to accomplish your task?"

> (2) modify Merb so the url() helper can use an arbitrary model  
> field as the
> resource id, e.g.
>
> r.resources :monkeys, :resource_id => :name

You're at least the third person to suggest attaching this to the  
routes, so that seems like an approach worth exploring for Merb.


> But if the idea is to add some feature to Merb for this

Well, it's both.  Merb needs some way to handle not using the id  
attribute of a model in URLs.  Especially in the case where the  
models aren't even database backed.  But this is also a contest, for  
making up cool and pretty APIs.


> I would suggest first a generalisation of the problem to allow for  
> composite primary keys.
> e.g. if each monkey has a first name and last name, and the tuple  
> (first name, last name) is unique, then allow resource URLs of the  
> form
>
>     /monkeys/koko/pops
> or  /monkeys/koko;pops

Tuples as URL segments...interesting.  My brain immediately went to
/monkeys/[koko,pops] but that's not legal.  After spending too much  
time in the spec when I should be getting ready for work, I came up  
with this:

/monkeys;koko,pops

; signifies params for a path segment....so it says "the collection  
of monkeys, limited by this tuple" ... legal, semantic....kinda  
pretty if you're a URI geek, too.

I can't decide without more linking and parsing if / 
monkeys/;koko,pops would also be legal.


Anyway, interesting stuff, thanks for the email.  I didn't see an  
official entry into the contest, though.  :)