Short context: We've been developing apps for the mobile phones (3G, EDGE, etc) and it's clear there's a need to make the data sent to the devices as concise as possible, otherwise it results in a poor user experience because of long loading times due to waiting for the data.
As a result, we've passed on using traditional Drupal methodologies like node_load because functions like that can return a large amount of data, which isn't suitable. Obviously, this isn't a good situation either way.
So, I'd like to open up a discussion to see if there's already functionality out there that would allow us to pick and choose data to make Services returns more lean. If there isn't a solution that already exists, then how can we properly use essential functions like node_load without all of the glut? One idea off the top of my head would be to use something like node_load and then have a middle man (module) rip apart the data and give it to Services, but that seems a bit kludgy.
Thoughts? I'm at Drupalcon right now if you want to discuss in person.
Comments
This already exists in Services
You can already limit what fields of a node that is returned in a Services call. See the 'fields' parameter in services such as node.get and views.get.
B.McMurray
B.McMurray