Both are uniquely identifiable therefore both should be resources in their own right i.e.
GET /authors/1
GET /books/1
Therefore the second option you suggest IMO seems the most sensible i.e.
PUT /books/1
{ authorId: 2 }
This is how you add a book to a author in my API:
PUT /authors/1/books/1/
I now want to change the book to another author.
How can I do that? I am thinking in the following options.
1- Making /authors and /books both top-level resources. Control what author a book is on using a property on the book, for example authorId: 2. For example, PUT /book/1 and set authorId: 2 in the body with other attributes.
2 - Perform PUT /authors/2/books/1/, changing the existing author's book to 2. With this method I should check if the book already exists. If exists I update the author and the other attributes, if not I would create a new book.
Which would be the best option in term of best practices? Is the second option a nonsense?
Both are uniquely identifiable therefore both should be resources in their own right i.e.
GET /authors/1
GET /books/1
Therefore the second option you suggest IMO seems the most sensible i.e.
PUT /books/1
{ authorId: 2 }
You mean the first option, right? :) I prefer this way too. Is this the way it is usually done or are there better ways?
@Mr.Mars whoops, yes, the first scenario you proposed. Depends on what your definition of "better" is, to me, this approach is the "best" way of doing what you want given your setup, and for a typical PUT would be a very popular solution.