Building Rich Apps - RailsConf 11 notes

richapps.md

###If I'm just sending JSON back and forth, why do I need Rails?

Rails is a rich HTTP abstraction, handles a lot for you

Read the HTTP spec

##ActionDispatch

###Middleware

Handles a lot for you -- Sessions, cookies, security, caching, MIMEs

JS templating engines

• Handlebars.js

##JSON APIs

• Nesting child resources are up to you
• Naming keys is up to you
• Error reporting formatting is up to you

##Rules for APIs

• Root contains 1 or more keys

      {
        posts : {
          ...
        }
      }

• No nested resources (by URL -- use params instead)
• Nested objects should be the same
• When using nested objects, use array of hashing containing objects, or array of ints with ids

Need a convention for bulk changes

• http://github.com/drogus/bulk_api

//GET /posts/bulk?ids=1,2

{
  posts: [
    {id : 1 . . . },
    {id : 2 . . . }
  ]
}