Context:
Suppose the current way to update a person is to use HTTP PATCH, where you can set the firstfirstname and lastnamelastname:
{ "firstname": "john", "lastname": "doe" }
{
"firstname": "john",
"lastname": "doe"
}
And you want to add an etxraextra optional field birthdatebirthdate to the person. There is no problem for the GET or PUT (as itsit's optional). But can it be added to the PATCH?
{ "firstname": "john", "lastname": "doe", "birthdate": "01-01-2000" }
{
"firstname": "john",
"lastname": "doe",
"birthdate": "01-01-2000"
}
Problem:
New clients can set the field, but old clients wanting to PATCH the name, will delete the birthdate value.
Solutions that I dontdon't want
Not updating fields when the response field is missing. But what if the API needs to allow deleting specific fields (like deleting a birthdatebirthdate)?
You could argue to only delete the field when itsit's explicitly mentioned in the request. But my backend is in Java and in any case, it will map to a LocalDate null value.
{ "firstname": "john", "lastname": "doe", "birthdate": null // delete the value as its explicitly mentioned }
{
"firstname": "john",
"lastname": "doe",
"birthdate": null // delete the value as its explicitly mentioned
}
I dont want to version my API for every field that I add.
What are the solutions?
