New API resource idea: character_issues

Currently I believe that the only way to retrieve the list of issues a certain character appears is through the "character" resource/method. The problem is that it only returns the results of a single character per call, resulting in thousands of requests to Comic Vine servers.

So, how about a specialized API resource just for that? One that would return a minimalist set of data, allowing us to batch update the list of issues the characters appear while incurring way less stress on the server.

Unlike many other resources, the only information this one would contain is the character ID and an array of issue IDs. No descriptions, no complex objects, no nothing else. Just a bunch of IDs.

This way the server load would be drastically reduced, allowing you guys to provide a way for us to perform batch updates, since I believe such resource could work just like the other "list" resources, which return several results per call.

In fact, I believe this "ID only" idea could even be extended to a couple of other resources, since currently I believe that the server trying to return a complex object (ex: the ID and description of the publisher) when the information required to create it is not there (ex: due to a bogus database volume record) is what sometimes makes some calls crash or even timeout (try to request data about Wolverine without removing the "volumes" field and you will see). But if instead of this complex "publisher" object (continuing with the example above) it returned just a "publisher_id" field, that field could be set to null and we all could go one with our lives. It is true that the publisher object could also be set to null... but I still believe it is a unnecessary waste of bandwidth.

So, what do you think?

Couldn't you do that just by limiting the fields returned on a character request?

I think he is absolutely right. I am trying to do get this API call for example but the server simple cannot respond. It is because Spider Man has massive amount of issues. If we have that REST call and then if we can make a pagination, it would be great.

http://www.comicvine.com/api/character/4005-1443/?field_list=volume_credits

@tasomaniac: With plan to do this, I would recommend ?field_list=volume_credits,issue_credits because otherwise, you get some blank name returns. You want to ensure you get all the names returned. Also, if for some reason the above doesn't work, try https