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This is based on a code review discussion that I had with a colleague about the way I have designed the resources paths for an ASP.NET Core controller that is currently consumed only internally (by...
#2: Nominated for promotion
by
Alexei
·
2022-02-13T11:37:51Z (about 2 years ago)
#1: Initial revision
by
Alexei
·
2022-01-07T14:49:10Z (over 2 years ago)
Using nested paths vs. flat ones for API resources
This is based on a code review discussion that I had with a colleague about the way I have designed the resources paths for an ASP.NET Core controller that is currently consumed only internally (by a SPA).
The paths were flattened (e.g. GET /api/productreview/{reviewId}) and my colleague argued that they should be nested (e.g. GET /api/product/{productId}/review/{reviewId}.
My rationale for choosing the "flattened" version was the following:
- any functionality should get the minimum required input to do its job. Any redundant information requires extra checks (i.e. what happens if `reviewId` does not actually belong to the `productId`?)
- the endpoints are only used by our own SPA and thus only queried by the SPA and by us via the SwaggerDocs
From a REST perspective, I agreed and changed them, since the ids are integer values and we do not risk having very long URLs.
I am wondering if there is a guideline related to choosing hierarchical API paths over flattened ones based on various criteria such as the way the API is consumed and possibly other criteria.