[[TOC]]
[wiki:S3XRC] | [wiki:S3XRC/RESTfulAPI S3 RESTful API] | S3Resource
= S3Resource Class =

== Introduction ==

Resources are dynamic, document-alike representations of data objects on the Eden server. As such, they can represent both single instances as well as structured sets of data objects.

    ''Note: in the database context, a single instance of a data object is typically called a record (or row), with fields (or columns) as its atomic elements. However, even though S3Resources are typically bound to a relational database and therefore the record/field terminology is often used in this regard, they are '''''not''''' intended to provide any object-relational mapping (ORM).''

S3Resources implement an extensible, multi-format [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REST REST]ful API to retrieve and manipulate data on the Eden server by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP HTTP] requests, where every resource can be addressed by an individual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL URL].

In the context of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, S3Resources are controller-generated objects. Typically, the controller generates a resource in response to an incoming HTTP request and returns a view of it (''output'') to the client:

    [[Image(arch3.png)]]


== Terminology ==

A S3Resource consists of elements which can be either ''resource''s themselves (container type) or ''data'' (atomic types).

Container type elements within a resource can be:

  - primary resources (independent data objects)
  - component resources (objects which are part of a primary object)
  - referenced resources (objects which are referenced by primary or component resources)

== RESTful API ==

This interface is used by the ''s3_rest_controller()'' function:

{{{
res, req = s3xrc.parse_request(module, resource)
output = res.execute_request(req, **attr)
}}}

where {{{res}}} is the S3Resource instance, and {{{req}}} the [wiki:S3XRC/RESTfulAPI/S3Request S3Request] instance.

=== Flow Diagram ===

[[Image(s3rest.png)]]

----
DeveloperGuidelines