Query string with keys without values

Question

What drawbacks can you think of if I design my REST API with query strings without parameter values? Like so:

http://host/path/to/page?edit
http://host/path/to/page?delete
http://host/path/to/page/+commentId?reply

Instead of e.g.:

http://host/api/edit?page=path/to/page
http://host/api/delete?page=path/to/page
http://host/api/reply?page=path/to/page&comment=commentId

( Edit: Any page-X?edit and page-X?delete links would trigger GET requests but wouldn't actually edit or delete the page. Instead, they show a page with a <form>, in which page-X can be edited, or a <form> with a Really delete page-X? confiramtion dialog. The actual edit/delete requests would be POST or DELETE requests. In the same manner as host/api/edit?page=path/to/page shows a page with an edit <form>. /Edit. )

Pleace note that ?action is not how query strings are usually formatted. Instead, they are usually formated like so: ?key=value;key2=v2;key3=v3

Moreover, sometimes I'd use URLs like this one:

http://host/path/to/page?delete;user=spammer

That is, I'd include a query string parameter with no value (delete) and one parameter with a value (user=spammer) (in order to delete all comments posted by the spammer)

My Web framework copes fine with query strings like ?reply. So I suppose that what I'm mostly wondering about, is can you think of any client side issues? Or any problems, should I decide to use another Web framework? (Do you know if the frameworks you use provides information on query strings without parameter values?)

(My understanding from reading http://labs.apache.org/webarch/uri/rfc/rfc3986.html is that the query string format I use is just fine, but what does that matter to all clients and server frameworks everywhere.)

(I currently use the Lift-Web framework. I've tested Play Framework too and it was possible to get hold of the value-less query strings parameters, so both Play and Lift-Web seems okay from my point of view.)

Here is a related question about query strings with no values. However, it deals with ASP.NET functions returning null in some cases: Access Query string parameters with no values in ASP.NET

Kind regards, Kaj-Magnus

Julian Reschke · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-16 18:42:08Z

5

Query parameters without value are no problem, but putting actions into the URI, in particular destructive ones, is.

Are you seriously thinking about "restful" design, and having a GET be a destructive action?

answered Apr 16, 2011 at 18:42

Julian Reschke

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2 Comments

KajMagnus Over a year ago

The ?edit query parameter would result in a page appearing, with a <form> with fields so you can edit the page. The actual edit request, when you click submit, would be a POST. The ?delete query parameter might show a page with a dialog "Delete page X?" in a <form> and the actual delete request would be a POST or a DELETE. So the ?action wouldn't actually do anything, only show pages on which you can submit forms. (Is this a reasonable design you think?) -- I'd better update my original question to clarify that ?delete doesn't delete.

KajMagnus Over a year ago

Your motivation is ... a bit terse :-) "[they] are no problem". Well, I'll trust you, I'll just wait a while in case some other answer appears too.

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