Re: Allow overridden request methods
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 06:45:28AM -0500, Jared Scheel wrote: That's a great point, DELETE does often get ignored. I like the idea of having a reserved property in json, but it still relies on your ability to push json to couchdb. So, you want to be able to replace a PUT with a POST, in some part of the API where the body is neither JSON nor a HTML FORM upload. The only example I can think of is using PUT to upload an attachment, and I thought there was already a POST multipart/form-data alternative for that. What else have I forgotten?
Re: Allow overridden request methods
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 07:08:21AM -0500, Jared Scheel wrote: Hmm, didn't think about that. I guess you will need to have some kind of request body anyways. Do you think that the request method should be set in the data though, or should it be set in the header, since the method/header defines how the data should be interpreted? I know that's just splitting hairs, but there was some concern about keeping the api as clean as possible. I think the whole point is to support minimal HTTP clients. If they don't support PUT or DELETE, there's a good chance they don't support custom HTTP headers either.
Re: Allow overridden request methods
Does anyone have an example of an HTTP client that doesn't support changing or adding headers? I certainly can't think of any. Limiting request methods is one thing but not allowing you to modify headers is pretty crippling. -Mikeal On May 14, 2009, at May 14, 20096:29 AM, Brian Candler wrote: On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 07:08:21AM -0500, Jared Scheel wrote: Hmm, didn't think about that. I guess you will need to have some kind of request body anyways. Do you think that the request method should be set in the data though, or should it be set in the header, since the method/header defines how the data should be interpreted? I know that's just splitting hairs, but there was some concern about keeping the api as clean as possible. I think the whole point is to support minimal HTTP clients. If they don't support PUT or DELETE, there's a good chance they don't support custom HTTP headers either.
Re: Allow overridden request methods
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 07:23:50AM -0700, Mikeal Rogers wrote: Does anyone have an example of an HTTP client that doesn't support changing or adding headers? I was thinking of a web browser, with Javascript disabled, submitting a FORM. But the other point is right - you can have a FORM which POSTS to _bulk_docs.
Re: Re: Allow overridden request methods
Sorry guys, I'm really new to couchdb, but it seems like _bulk_docs is side-stepping the issue by using something in a way it wasn't really intended to be used. Shouldn't there be some fairly simple and decoupled way to set the proper request method if you are limited by your client? It seems easy to say if your client doesn't support a request method, simply POST the request and set the x-http-method-override header to the real request method you want to use. This way to don't have to change anything else in your process, you just have to add the appropriate header. Thanks! -Jared On May 14, 2009 3:24pm, Brian Candler b.cand...@pobox.com wrote: On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 07:23:50AM -0700, Mikeal Rogers wrote: Does anyone have an example of an HTTP client that doesn't support changing or adding headers? I was thinking of a web browser, with Javascript disabled, submitting a . But the other point is right - you can have a FORM which POSTS to _bulk_docs.
Re: Allow overridden request methods
On 13 May 2009, at 06:29, Jared Scheel wrote: Hello all, I recently looked into utilizing couchdb in a Flash application when I came across a frustrating limitation: flash only allows GET and POST methods. Apparently, this kind of limitation is more common that you would expect in certain clients. Unfortunately, this makes using couchdb rather difficult. Here's a great post about the problem: http://www.mail-archive.com/sling-...@incubator.apache.org/msg00355.html . What would be the possibility of allowing request methods to be overridden with the X-HTTP-Method-Override header? This would allow the request to be made with POST, but the method that couchdb receives to be whatever value you attach to the X-HTTP-Method-Override header. The upcoming update handlers (Jason? :) might be a good place to put this. Cheers Jan --
Re: Allow overridden request methods
On 13 May 2009, at 18:43, Jared Scheel wrote: Sorry for responding to my original message instead of a reply in the thread, but I seem to be having some issues with the mailing list. Oliver, you are right, I could use a javascript wrapper for flash. The problem with that is that it introduces a second dependency to interact with the REST interface. It adds a second API and complexity to CouchDB to support non-standard clients. I.e: If you don't speak HTTP, you can't talk to CouchDB. Sometimes you won't have access to the javascript external interface with flash. Also, by adding support for this header, it doesn't just benefit flash, but any client that is restricted (Silverlight for example). I'd rather not fix corporate bastardizations of open standards. If they can't get their shit together, it's their fault that their customers suffer. Cheers Jan -- Punkrock! Thanks! -Jared On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 11:29 PM, Jared Scheel jare...@gmail.com wrote: Hello all, I recently looked into utilizing couchdb in a Flash application when I came across a frustrating limitation: flash only allows GET and POST methods. Apparently, this kind of limitation is more common that you would expect in certain clients. Unfortunately, this makes using couchdb rather difficult. Here's a great post about the problem: http://www.mail-archive.com/sling-...@incubator.apache.org/msg00355.html . What would be the possibility of allowing request methods to be overridden with the X-HTTP-Method-Override header? This would allow the request to be made with POST, but the method that couchdb receives to be whatever value you attach to the X-HTTP-Method-Override header. Thanks! -Jared
Re: Allow overridden request methods
On May 13, 2009, at May 13, 20099:58 AM, Jan Lehnardt wrote: On 13 May 2009, at 18:43, Jared Scheel wrote: Sorry for responding to my original message instead of a reply in the thread, but I seem to be having some issues with the mailing list. Oliver, you are right, I could use a javascript wrapper for flash. The problem with that is that it introduces a second dependency to interact with the REST interface. It adds a second API and complexity to CouchDB to support non-standard clients. I.e: If you don't speak HTTP, you can't talk to CouchDB. In nearly every REST API I've written in the last 5 years I've checked for x-http-method-override and just changed the request method in the request before it hits the rest of the application logic. Not too long ago, Safari didn't support PUT and everyone, especially Google, got on the x-http-method-override bandwagon. In fact, I believe all of their APIs still support x-http-method-override. This silly limitation is a lot more common than you would think and it's usually done under some kind of security pretense. Sure, this particular time around it's Flash, which I certainly couldn't care less about, but I think as more clients start using CouchDB you're going to see this come up more and more. I think it's unfair to characterize these clients as not supporting HTTP when in reality they support a sandboxed HTTP API which unnecessarily limits their usage. -Mikeal
Re: Allow overridden request methods
Darn it, still not getting this thread from the list. Well, anyways, I don't think it's adding any API complexity, it's just an override for the request method, it would be completely transparent. Like Mikeal said, you just have to check it once and change the request if an override is present. Mikeal, I didn't know Safari had that limitation in the past, that's wild! -Jared On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Jared Scheel jare...@gmail.com wrote: Sorry for responding to my original message instead of a reply in the thread, but I seem to be having some issues with the mailing list. Oliver, you are right, I could use a javascript wrapper for flash. The problem with that is that it introduces a second dependency to interact with the REST interface. Sometimes you won't have access to the javascript external interface with flash. Also, by adding support for this header, it doesn't just benefit flash, but any client that is restricted (Silverlight for example). Thanks! -Jared On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 11:29 PM, Jared Scheel jare...@gmail.com wrote: Hello all, I recently looked into utilizing couchdb in a Flash application when I came across a frustrating limitation: flash only allows GET and POST methods. Apparently, this kind of limitation is more common that you would expect in certain clients. Unfortunately, this makes using couchdb rather difficult. Here's a great post about the problem: http://www.mail-archive.com/sling-...@incubator.apache.org/msg00355.html. What would be the possibility of allowing request methods to be overridden with the X-HTTP-Method-Override header? This would allow the request to be made with POST, but the method that couchdb receives to be whatever value you attach to the X-HTTP-Method-Override header. Thanks! -Jared
