Different types for posted and returned data

[muliyul]

This is a suggestion mixed with a question.
I would like to POST and parse the returned request. Something along the lines:

Map<String, Object> body = new HashMap<>();
body.put("email", "[email protected]");
body.put("password", "s0m3P4s5w0rd");
Rest.one("auth")
       .put(body)
       .post(User.class)
       .request();

However this is currently impossible because the body and the parsed response are coupled. A decouple would be nice.

Is it possible to achieve what I'm seeking with volley-requests?

[jsotuyod]

This is an interesting point. We discussed this for a very long time internally before deciding on the current approach.

We ended up deciding on keeping it unified because:

1. it implies a smaller API (single arg / method call allows to setup everything)
2. we couldn't think of any scenario where splitting this is needed and not down to an API design problem

I'm guessing here, but I assume that your User class has an email field, and maybe even a password field.

If that's the case, you could rewrite your code as:

User body = new User("[email protected]", "s0m3P4s5w0rd");
Rest.one("auth")
       .put(body)
       .request();

All null fields on User will be left out on the put request body, and the posted json would be the same as the one produced by your map.

Is there any reason why this wouldn't work on your scenario? Maybe we have a real issue here, and I'm not seeing it.

[muliyul]

Say my authentication requires {email, password} fields to be present, however my user class contains them in another format like:

class User {
    private String password;
    private List<Identity> identities;
    class Identity {
        enum Type { Facebook, Google }
        Type type;
        String email;
    }
}

[jsotuyod]

Interesting... I wonder how we could extend the DSL without overcomplicating this...

Overloading put / post / etc. would be an option, but would require to add too many methods...

Maybe doing something such as:

Rest.one("auth")
       .put(body)
       .as(User.class)
       .request();

The problem would be the order of the verb call (post / put / get) and the as would be meaningful, as one overrides the other.... Maybe just adding a requestAs(Class<?> clazz) method would be better to force order, but the type data would be lost from the builder....

On the other hand, got get requests, this unfolding makes no sense at all...

Maybe overloading the verb methods is the way forward... I certainly need to think this over. Your input is welcomed!