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POHow should I create a REST API using Rails 3.0?
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copied!<p>I can't seem to find much information on the web about the different approaches to building a REST API in Rails; so I kinda have two questions:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Can someone point me to some articles that show the pros/cons of the different approaches?</strong></li> <li><strong>Would you please share your thoughts on the pros/cons of the following approaches?</strong></li> </ol> <p> </p> <h2>Proposed Approaches</h2> <p>  </p> <ol> <li><p><strong>Use the standard controllers to return XML when a users adds <code>.xml</code> to the end of the URL</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Pros:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>This is built-in to Rails and very easy to use</li> <li>Follows the same resource-based approach that Rails has, so it will be easy for existing users to understand/remember <h1> </h1></li> </ul> <p><strong><em>Cons:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>API isn't cleanly separated from the main site, harder to maintain</li> <li>People may assume that adding <code>.xml</code> will work in places it doesn't <h1> </h1></li> </ul></li> <li><p><strong>Use namespaced routing to create separate API controllers that only handle API functions, but still have access to the same models that the website uses</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Pros:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>API is mostly separated</li> <li>Still uses resource-full controllers</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <p><strong><em>Cons:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>URLs have the form of site.com/api/resource.xml which may make people assume all resources are available</li> <li>API is still part of the website code/project; thus, harder to maintain</li> </ul> <h1> </h1></li> <li><p><strong>Use route forwarding and constraints to forward all API calls to a Rack application</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Pros:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>API is fully separated</li> <li>Not required to use Resource-full style if we don't want to</li> <li>URLs clearly show it's an API and you should check the docs to see what's available (at least, my mind works this way; I assume other dev's minds do too)</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <p><strong><em>Cons:</em></strong></p> <ul> <li>Harder to use models from website code</li> <li>Easier to maintain as a separate project, but that means harder to integrate with existing site</li> <li>Must keep codebases in sync since models may change for site features/bug fixes</li> </ul> <h1> </h1></li> </ol>

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