13 Cross references
This chapter covers
- What names fields should use when referencing other resources
- How reference fields should handle issues with referential integrity
- When and why fields should store a copy of the resource data
In any API with multiple resource types, it’s likely that there will be a need for resources to point at one another. Though this manner of referencing resources may appear trivial, many of the behavioral details are left open for interpretation, which means there is the opportunity for inconsistency. This pattern aims to clarify how these references should be defined and, more importantly, how they should behave.
13.1 Motivation
Resources rarely live in a vacuum. As a result, there must be a way for resources ...
Get API Design Patterns now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
