Re: RESTful Toggle

"'Simpson, Robby (GE Energy Management)' [email protected] [rest-discuss]" <[email protected]> Wed, 9 Jul 2014 15:47:00 +0000
Newsgroups	gmane.comp.web.services.rest
Message-ID	<CFE2DAF0.37735%[email protected]>
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Hi Erik!

On 7/9/14, 11:39 AM, "Erik Wilde" <[email protected]> wrote:


>hello robby.
>
>On 2014-07-09, 17:29 , 'Simpson, Robby (GE Energy Management)'
>[email protected] [rest-discuss] wrote:
>> This particular issue has arisen in the design of home automation
>>systems.  Specifically, I'm working in a standards body (the ZigBee
>>Alliance) that has classically used a binary protocol that does not
>>really adhere to any true architectural design (IMHO).  I've been
>>engaged in work that started in ZigBee and has now moved to IEEE
>>(2030.5) that (attempts to) rigidly stick to a RESTful HTTP design.  One
>>request that has come up is to port toggle switch capability to this
>>standard.  Home automation manufacturers have actually implemented
>>toggle switches this way in the past (see
>>http://zigbee.org/Products/ByStandard/ZigBeeHomeAutomation.aspx).
>
>it sounds like the scenario we were talking about, that all you want is
>to tell the resource to "reverse its state". in this case, i'd POST a
>body that represents this request, in whatever serialization you happen
>to prefer. the resource toggles. everybody's happy.

OK.  Still seems like a bit of a departure from typical RESTful interfaces
I've seen and has the potential to be a catch-all tunnel for RPC-style
requests.

E.g.:
/command, where one could POST all sorts of commands like "toggle."

>but i am confused because you wrote earlier that you were concerned
>about race conditions. which seems to imply that instead of just
>toggling, you're also assuming that you're "toggling *from* some state".
>but that wouldn't be the "blind toggle" we discussed. could you clarify
>a bit how exactly the operation that you're trying to design is defined?

Apologies, a blind toggle is what is desired.  As it currently works, in
the current binary protocol, a button press on a toggle switch simply
sends a "toggle" command.

>
>cheers,
>
>dret.
>
>--=20
>erik wilde | mailto:[email protected]  -  tel:+1-510-2061079 |
>            | UC Berkeley  -  School of Information (ISchool) |
>            | http://dret.net/netdret http://twitter.com/dret |


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      <p>Hi Erik!<br>
<br>
On 7/9/14, 11:39 AM, &quot;Erik Wilde&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote:<br>
<br>
&gt;hello robby.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;On 2014-07-09, 17:29 , &#39;Simpson, Robby (GE Energy Management)&#39;<br>
&gt;[email protected] [rest-discuss] wrote:<br>
&gt;&gt; This particular issue has arisen in the design of home automation<br>
&gt;&gt;systems.  Specifically, I&#39;m working in a standards body (the ZigBee<br>
&gt;&gt;Alliance) that has classically used a binary protocol that does not<br>
&gt;&gt;really adhere to any true architectural design (IMHO).  I&#39;ve been<br>
&gt;&gt;engaged in work that started in ZigBee and has now moved to IEEE<br>
&gt;&gt;(2030.5) that (attempts to) rigidly stick to a RESTful HTTP design.  One<br>
&gt;&gt;request that has come up is to port toggle switch capability to this<br>
&gt;&gt;standard.  Home automation manufacturers have actually implemented<br>
&gt;&gt;toggle switches this way in the past (see<br>
&gt;&gt;http://zigbee.org/Products/ByStandard/ZigBeeHomeAutomation.aspx).<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;it sounds like the scenario we were talking about, that all you want is<br>
&gt;to tell the resource to &quot;reverse its state&quot;. in this case, i&#39;d POST a<br>
&gt;body that represents this request, in whatever serialization you happen<br>
&gt;to prefer. the resource toggles. everybody&#39;s happy.<br>
<br>
OK.  Still seems like a bit of a departure from typical RESTful interfaces<br>
I&#39;ve seen and has the potential to be a catch-all tunnel for RPC-style<br>
requests.<br>
<br>
E.g.:<br>
/command, where one could POST all sorts of commands like &quot;toggle.&quot;<br>
<br>
&gt;but i am confused because you wrote earlier that you were concerned<br>
&gt;about race conditions. which seems to imply that instead of just<br>
&gt;toggling, you&#39;re also assuming that you&#39;re &quot;toggling *from* some state&quot;.<br>
&gt;but that wouldn&#39;t be the &quot;blind toggle&quot; we discussed. could you clarify<br>
&gt;a bit how exactly the operation that you&#39;re trying to design is defined?<br>
<br>
Apologies, a blind toggle is what is desired.  As it currently works, in<br>
the current binary protocol, a button press on a toggle switch simply<br>
sends a &quot;toggle&quot; command.<br>
<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;cheers,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;dret.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;-- <br>
&gt;erik wilde | mailto:[email protected]  -  tel:&#43;1-510-2061079 |<br>
&gt;            | UC Berkeley  -  School of Information (ISchool) |<br>
&gt;            | http://dret.net/netdret http://twitter.com/dret |<br>
<br>
</p>

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