What is the purpose of API Resources? - laravel

I've read the docs and watched the Laracast. I'm still left wondering why you would use them?
I get that you can map different data to different names if your field names were to change but you want to keep a consistent public API. But surly you can just do the same on the model with the toArray() method and change the mappings there?
If I were to do:
return User::find(1);
I get a response like:
{"id":1,"name":"Ova Parker"}
If I do:
return new UserResource(User::find(1));
I get a response like:
{"data":{"id":1,"name":"Ova Parker"}}
Is there a significance in wrapping it with a data tag? I am just guessing but is this a standard JSON format for API's? Why would you not just do return User::find(1); instead of using an API resource, if this is under API routes then it'll return it as JSON anyway automatically.

You kind of answer the question by yourself. The idea behind API Resources or Transformers (like the ones from Fractal) is to hide the db field names from the client. With return User::find(1) you expose your whole db structure which might not a good idea security-wise and also bad for the release process. If you need to change a db field name, you have to change the API too. With Resources you have a mapping between your application and the consumer of you API.
It seems more work in the beginning, but once you started it, you won't wanna miss it anymore.
There is no toArray() method in PHP, which gets magically called like __toString(). You have to write you own and call it by yourself. Resources are built-in by Laravel and will be resolved automatically.

Related

Is it necessary to use the form to transfer data to the server?

I'm new to backend programming. I chose the laravel framework. Already learned the basics. During the study, the question arose: is it necessary to use the form to transfer data to the server ?. For example: the deletion route looks like this to me
Delete.
If I leave it, will it be a mistake? Maybe advise an article or something. Thanks in advance
Short answer is no, it's not necessary, but you should (if you're bound to HTML only).
The HTTP standard has different methods for different purposes. Using an anchor tag will always make a HTTP GET request to the link/server, which is not ideal, GET request should never change the remote (server) state, that's a job other methods (POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH), you should try to use the method that better describe what you're trying to do: in your case I suppose you're trying to delete a complaint, so a DELETE or POST is what you're looking for.
The only way to use make a non GET request in plain HTML* is to use <form>. Also if you're planning to use a method different from POST you should take a look at Laravel's #method here
Mind that if you can and want to use JavaScript to perform your request you totally can, dropping the requirement to have use form (docs and docs).

Does Parse.Cloud.beforeRead exist is some form?

In Parse there is something called:
Parse.Cloud.beforeSave
I wonder if there is something to play the role of a:
Parse.Cloud.beforeRead
I need a way to control what is going to be returned to the user when a request is made to the DB.
In particular in certain circomstances, depending on information on the server, I want to force blank fields in the result of the DB request made by the user. Any standard way to do this?
There is no Parse.Cloud.beforeRead kind of function supported by Parse.
Instead, you can define a custom cloud function using
Parse.Cloud.define('readObjects', function(request, response) {...} );
that returns array of objects. This function will act as a wrapper over the Parse query.
Then, your client apps should be calling this cloud function to fetch objects rather than direct Parse.Query requests.

How to pass route values to controllers in Laravel 4?

I am struggling to understand something that I am sure one of you will be able to easily explain. I am somewhat new to MVC so please bear with me.
I have created a controller that handles all of the work involved with connecting to the Twitter API and processing the returned JSON into HTML.
Route::get('/about', 'TwitterController#getTweets');
I then use:
return View::make('templates.about', array('twitter_html' => $twitter_html ))
Within my controller to pass the generated HTML to my view and everything works well.
My issue is that I have multiple pages that I use to display a different Twitter user's tweets on each page. What I would like to do is pass my controller an array of values (twitter handles) which it would then use in the API call. What I do not want to have to do is have a different Controller for each user group. If I set $twitter_user_ids within my Controller I can use that array to pull the tweets, but I want to set the array and pass it into the Controller somehow. I would think there would be something like
Route::get('/about', 'TwitterController#getTweets('twitter_id')');
But that last doesn't work.
I believe that my issue is related to variable scope somehow, but I could be way off.
Am I going down the wrong track here? How do I pass my Controllers different sets of data to produce different results?
EDIT - More Info
Markus suggested using Route Parameters, but I'm not sure that will work with what I am going for. Here is my specific use case.
I have an about page that will pull my tweets from Twitters API and display them on the page.
I also have a "Tweets" page that will pull the most recent tweets from several developers accounts and display them.
In both cases I have $twitter_user_ids = array() with different values in the array.
The controller that I have built takes that array of usernames and accesses the API and generates HTML which is passed to my view.
Because I am working with an array (the second of which is a large array), I don't think that Route Parameters will work.
Thanks again for the help. I couldn't do it without you all!
First of all, here's a quick tip:
Instead of
return View::make('templates.about', array('twitter_html' => $twitter_html ))
...use
return View::make('templates.about', compact('twitter_html'))
This creates the $twitter_html automatically for you. Check it out in the PHP Manual.
 
Now to your problem:
You did the route part wrong. Try:
Route::get('/about/{twitter_id}', 'TwitterController#getTweets');
This passes the twitter_id param to your getTweets function.
Check out the Laravel Docs: http://laravel.com/docs/routing#route-parameters

extJS4 difference between Ext.Ajax and Ext.data.proxy.Ajax

I am new to the extJS framework and after looking at these two classes I am curious when it is better to use one or the other. Is one better for submitting and one for getting? In my current situation I am using a grid and the api says to use the proxy.Ajax which I trust. But lets say I want to send the JSON back to a database, would I be better off using Ext.Ajax?
Also I am rather new to JSON I understand that its just a string with regular expressions essentially. What is the best way to send the json straight to a database if I don’t want to store the json locally?
Ext.Ajax is used to make one-off requests to a server. You can use this for GET and POST requests.
Ext.data.proxy.Ajax is used by the data package, in particular, Ext.data.Store's. You cannot use this 'manually'. You must use it via the data package.

Django client side query construction

I'm making a pretty standard AJAXy (well, no XML actually) web page. The browser makes a bunch of API queries that return JSON to run the site. The problem is, I need to add to the API interface each time the page needs to do something new. The new API interface is usually little more than a database query followed by mapping the returned objects to JSON.
What I'd like to do is to get rid of all that server-side duplication and just have the page make database requests itself (using the model interface), but in a way that is safe (i.e. just read only ones). I think this would amount to an interface for constructing Q objects using JSON or something like that, and then send that up to the server, run the query, and return the results. Before I go making my own half-broken architecture for this, I'm wondering if this has already been done well. Also, is this even the best way to go about eliminating this duplication?
Thanks
Search multiple fields of django model without 3rd party app
Django SQL OR via filter() & Q(): Dynamic?
Generate a django queryset based on dict keys
Just replace with operator.and_ where appropriate.

Resources