Re: What do we get with PUT/DELETE?

[Robert Sayre <mint@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoting Russell Beattie <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> 
> No reason to make a SOAP-light with custom responses, etc.
> 
> Keep the Atom REST API as is and simply drop the requirement of 
> PUT/DELETE, either by making the endpoints different (one for each type 
> of action), or adding an "action" tag under the entry.
> 
> Seems a reasonable compromise to me.
> 
> -Russ
> 

A POST-only API would require using status code 500 for most errors, as SOAP
does, so custom responses would be necessary. For instance, a 404 means
something different in the context of a POST than a PUT[1]. 

Making both the Canonical and SOAP fallback methods MUST-level requirements
would be another option. It puts a greater burden serverside implementors, but
the implementors that have done both didn't find it difficult[2]. Would you
object to (slightly?) increasing the burden on server implementations in order
to allow clients supporting the full set of http verbs to use them, while
maintaining a POST option for those that don't?

Robert Sayre

[1] http://www.imc.org/atom-syntax/mail-archive/msg00053.html
[2] http://www.imc.org/atom-syntax/mail-archive/msg01197.html