modules/dataapi/README.txt

Data API readme
***************

Do not try to install this module on a real site!

This is a module developed for demonstration purposes and not intended to be used on sites.

Intent:

Drupal's core object handling APIs are soundly designed but limited. Existing systems
for creating, updating, loading, and deleting objects like nodes, users, terms, etc. have
two main limitations:

* Lack of uniformity/consistency. Each object type has a distinct set of methods, accepting
  different arguments and returning different data. This makes it difficult or impossible
  to have uniform interactions with different object types.

* The data APIs are form-based, with limited support for programmatic operations. Specifically,
  necessary schema information - data structures, default values, required fields, etc. = are
  embedded in forms and not available to direct API operations.

The intent of Data API is to prototype a new uniform set of APIs for all Drupal object types.
The key assumption of the approach is that a data API should be schema-aware, with key schema
data residing in a single location and fully exploited.

If we know enough about our schema, we can programmatically save items; validate them, ensuring
all required fields are present; set appropriate default values; load data from foreign key source
tables; and so on. We can also programmatically generate basic input forms.

Data API defines schema information in a way parallel to the Forms API. That is, schema data are
embedded in structured arrays. Because all data types expose their schemas in the same format,
a single set of methods can be used for all types.


1	Data API readme
2	***************
3
4	Do not try to install this module on a real site!
5
6	This is a module developed for demonstration purposes and not intended to be used on sites.
7
8	Intent:
9
10	Drupal's core object handling APIs are soundly designed but limited. Existing systems
11	for creating, updating, loading, and deleting objects like nodes, users, terms, etc. have
12	two main limitations:
13
14	* Lack of uniformity/consistency. Each object type has a distinct set of methods, accepting
15	different arguments and returning different data. This makes it difficult or impossible
16	to have uniform interactions with different object types.
17
18	* The data APIs are form-based, with limited support for programmatic operations. Specifically,
19	necessary schema information - data structures, default values, required fields, etc. = are
20	embedded in forms and not available to direct API operations.
21
22	The intent of Data API is to prototype a new uniform set of APIs for all Drupal object types.
23	The key assumption of the approach is that a data API should be schema-aware, with key schema
24	data residing in a single location and fully exploited.
25
26	If we know enough about our schema, we can programmatically save items; validate them, ensuring
27	all required fields are present; set appropriate default values; load data from foreign key source
28	tables; and so on. We can also programmatically generate basic input forms.
29
30	Data API defines schema information in a way parallel to the Forms API. That is, schema data are
31	embedded in structured arrays. Because all data types expose their schemas in the same format,
32	a single set of methods can be used for all types.
33
34