Query Parser infer view

[ghbutton]

Do you think it would be possible to use the QueryParser without specifying the view? The view is inferred (I think) if you dont use the QueryParser.

This is a code snippet that I thought we could try for:

defmodule Web.PostController do
  plug JSONAPI.QueryParser
...
end

I am happy to try to write the code if this makes sense

[mattpolzin]

The QueryParser uses the view to determine which includes and field names are valid and will produce an error for any other values the request specifies. That means a usage like you are suggesting would expressly disallow includes or sparse field sets if I am understanding you correctly.

That said, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to desire to use the query parser on its own without a view given that you can also explicitly list allowed includes (although not fields). Still, it would be a pretty unusual desire I would think. Have you considered specifying a "null view" for your use-case? Just any old view you want to define with no attributes or relationships on it that you can use to satisfy the view needed by the plug currently.

[ghbutton]

Given this contrived example:

Controller:

defmodule App.Api.PostController do
  use RichWeb, :controller

  alias App.Repo
  alias App.Post

  def index(conn, _params) do
    posts = Repo.all(Post)

    render(conn, :index, data: post)
  end
end

View:

defmodule App.Api.PostJSON do
  use JSONAPI.View, type: "posts"

  def fields do
    [:title, :body]
  end
end

I dont need to specify a view in the controller because the phoenix controller already knows which view to use (I think). I was wondering if the QueryParser could infer the view similarly? I am not a phoenix / elixir expert so I dont know how this is done but perhaps I could find out.

[mattpolzin]

I see, it’s not that you want the query parser to operate without knowledge of the view, it’s that you want the query parser not to need to take the view explicitly.

[ghbutton]

Yes, sorry if I worded that poorly.

[ghbutton]

It would reduce the boiler plate I have to write.