[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #14618: Proposal: Standardize WP Responses to JS Requests as JSON

[WordPress Trac]

#14618: Proposal: Standardize WP Responses to JS Requests as JSON
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  filosofo     |       Owner:                
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new           
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  JavaScript   |     Version:  3.0           
 Severity:  normal       |    Keywords:  needs-patch   
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------

Comment(by filosofo):

 Replying to [comment:20 josephscott]:
 > You asked for an example, I provided one.  JSON-RPC will suffer from the
 same problem XML-RPC does in this area.

 Joseph, you said that the lack of binary support was "the single biggest
 weakness in XML-RPC from my point of view."  For it to be a weakness
 relevant to ''this'' proposal (as opposed to XML/JSON RPC in the
 abstract), it would need to have some bearing on likely use.

 > > Which can be solved the same way.  That seems to be how many popular
 web APIs handle such things; take a look for example at the Google Maps
 and MailChimp API versioning.
 >
 > I scanned through the docs for both of these, I didn't see JSON-RPC
 listed as an option for either one.  Quite the opposite, they use more
 standard direct HTTP APIs, as I suggested in my first comment.

 Sorry not to be clear.  I meant using the ''endpoint'' to indicate API
 version rather than each ''method'', because you said "I was thinking of
 per method versions."

 > Perhaps I stopped following the development of JSON-RPC too soon then.
 I hadn't seen much uptake in JSON-RPC, though I might not be looking in
 the right places.

 I meant JSON in general.

 > As I suggested in my first comment on this ticket, my suggest is to use
 a simple direct HTTP based API.  Not an RPC based API.
 >
 > The Twitter and Facebook Graph APIs are popular examples of what I'm
 suggesting.

 I'm not sure what you're arguing against.  Are you arguing against using
 JSON as a format for request and response?  Then my response is:
  * JSON is used in response by both examples you cite, Twitter and
 Facebook.
  * It seems to be growing in popularity.  I admit I can't provide numbers
 to demonstrate that conclusively.
  * It's lightweight.
  * It works well with a lot of languages; JS most obviously and
 relevantly.

 Are you arguing against having any protocol for remote procedure calls?
 Then my response is:
  * Standardization is good for the reasons I've mentioned several times so
 far (and without apparent disagreement).
  * Putting the RPC methods in an easy-to-parse request object avoids
 potential namespace collisions and the ambiguities of parsing a request
 URL.
  * Having a third-party protocol is generally better than coming up with
 your own, both in terms of work for yourself and others, in maintenance
 and learning the syntax.
  * We already have a ton of WP methods defined for XML RPC, which we can
 re-use for JSON RPC.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/14618#comment:21>
WordPress Trac <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress blogging software