Discover the secrets of accessing two distinct objects returned by a single REST URL with Backbone

Question

Discover the secrets of accessing two distinct objects returned by a single REST URL with Backbone

I am working with a REST URL that looks like this:

/users/<user_id>/entities

This URL returns data containing 2 objects as follows:

{
    "players":
    {
       "test_player2":
       {
           "_id": "test_player2",
           "user": "f07590567f3d3570b4f35b4fd79f18b3"
       },
       "test_playerX":
       {
           "_id": "test_player2",
           "user": "f07590567f3d3570b4f35b4fd79f18b3"
       }
    },
    "games":
    {
      "game1" :{},
      "game2" :{},
    }
}

I am figuring out how to structure my Backbone Objects in order to utilize this data effectively.

My goal is to create two separate Backbone objects: Player and Game, both of which should be populated using the same URL mentioned above.

One question that arises is whether it is considered proper practice to design a REST URL in this manner?

javascript ajax backbone.js

Answer 1

Answer №1

Is it considered best practice to structure REST URLs in this way?

No, it is not the correct practice. In REST architecture, each URL should represent a single resource. Therefore, instead of using /users/<user_id>/entities, you should use /users/<user_id>/players to return a list of players and /users/<user_id>/games to return a list of games.

There may be instances where you have limited control over the API response, particularly with nested objects:

{
    "players":
    {
        "id": 1,
        "games":
        {
           "id": 1745,
           "title": "Team Fortress 2"
        }
    }
}

In such cases, you can utilize the model's parse function like this:

parse: function(response)
{
    if(_.isArray(response.games))
    {
        this.games = new GamesCollection(response.games,{parse: true});
    }
}

By customizing the parse function and using {parse:true}, you can extend your models as needed. While it's not the preferred method (as collections should handle their own models), it can be useful for working with complex API responses beyond your control.

Answer 2

Is it considered best practice to structure REST URLs in this way?

No, it is not the correct practice. In REST architecture, each URL should represent a single resource. Therefore, instead of using /users/<user_id>/entities, you should use /users/<user_id>/players to return a list of players and /users/<user_id>/games to return a list of games.

There may be instances where you have limited control over the API response, particularly with nested objects:

{
    "players":
    {
        "id": 1,
        "games":
        {
           "id": 1745,
           "title": "Team Fortress 2"
        }
    }
}

In such cases, you can utilize the model's parse function like this:

parse: function(response)
{
    if(_.isArray(response.games))
    {
        this.games = new GamesCollection(response.games,{parse: true});
    }
}

By customizing the parse function and using {parse:true}, you can extend your models as needed. While it's not the preferred method (as collections should handle their own models), it can be useful for working with complex API responses beyond your control.

Discover the secrets of accessing two distinct objects returned by a single REST URL with Backbone

Answer №1

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