Thoughts on REST: Who gives a shit?

I feel like I’ve come to a new understanding of REST.

I’ve long been an evangelical supporter of REST. I’ve felt that Controllers should have, at most, the Seven Actions (List, Show, Edit, Update, New, Create, Delete).

But no longer…

I’m currently working on a project that had a normal, everyday requirement. Purchase Orders can be edited, and they can also be closed. From the Pure-REST point-of-view, I have two options: A convoluted Update action that does two things or a creating a specific PurchaseOrderClose controller that does one highly-specific thing.

Instead, I opted to do something terrible and dangerous…

I added a Close method to my PurchaseOrder controller. I added a custom route (/PurchaseOrders/{id}/Close). The world didn’t explode, and the API is still easy to understand.

It’s a simple lesson, but one that’s often hard-learned: To every rule, there is always an exception. Always err on the side of cleaner code.

/// <summary>
/// This is it.  This is the one that will infect your soul, curve your spine,
/// and keep the country from winning the war. 
/// </summary>
public ActionResult Close(int id)
{
	var po = _poRepository.Close(id);
	return View(po);
}