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I am writing a REST API providing CRUD operations on resources.

I'd like the users to be able to register to some resources changes and get the updates via server push. For the server push I will provide support for reverse ajax, hidden iframe and websockets. In order to be as REST as possible I created a Streaming resource which handles the registrations and the connection to the client:

Streaming resource:

URI uri : A GET against this URI refreshes the client representation of the resources accessible to this user.
bool WebSocket : Indicate if websocket is available on this server
bool ReverseXHR : Indicate if ReverseXHR is available on this server
bool HiddenIframe : Indicate if HiddenIframe is available on this server
Registration[] Registrations :  The set of registration tasks.

OpenChannel : Open streaming channel from webserver to client. GET parameter type=(websocket|xhr|hiddeniframe)

CloseChannel : Close streaming channel from webserver to client. GET parameter type=(websocket|xhr|hiddeniframe)

A call of openchannel?type=websocket would open the websocket and start streaming the data of the registered values.

I've read many articles but I am still a bit confused. Can I still call my API REST after doing this? And if no (or yes) why?

Thank you for your help!

LaChocolaterie
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  • How did you get on with this? I wouldn't worry about the purity of the pattern - server push is increasingly important. I'd like to know how you implemented this.. – jimmy_terra Aug 25 '14 at 08:02

1 Answers1

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Firstly, always implement what makes sense to solve the problem you face. Conforming to a given architectural style provides specific benefits but this should not exclude pragmatic solutions to a given problem.

But having said that, it seems like you're using streaming of resource data as a way to "tunnel" information back & forth between the client and the server. I'm pretty new to this but it seems to me that the tunneling data goes against the uniform interface constraint in the REST architectural style. Tunneling over HTTP is one of criticism level against soap based services.

Sixto Saez
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  • For now I am only using streaming to send data from the server to the client. When using COMET reverse ajax or hidden iframe technique, no other protocol than HTTP is involved. It could be seen as a permanent request and in this case I don't know if it is compatible with REST or not. When using WebSockets it is indeed tunneling so you are right, this must break the uniform interface constraint. Though I will let the question open because I am interested in the answer for reverse ajax and hidden iframe. Thanks Sixto – LaChocolaterie Apr 10 '12 at 22:10