Drupal 8.7 was released with huge API-First improvements!

The REST API only got fairly small improvements in the 7th minor release of Drupal 8, because it reached a good level of maturity in 8.6 (where we added file uploads, exposed more of Drupal’s data model and improved DX.), and because we of course were busy with JSON:API :)

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

1. JSON:API #2843147

   Need I say more? :) After keeping you informed about progress in October, November, December and January, followed by one of the most frantic Drupal core contribution periods I’ve ever experienced, the JSON:API module was committed to Drupal 8.7 on March 21, 2019.

The JSON:API module was added to Drupal 8.7 as a stable module!

See Dries’ overview of why this is an important milestone for Drupal, a look behind the scenes and a look toward the future. Read that first!

Upgrading?

As Mateu said, this is the first time a new module is added to Drupal core as “stable” (non-experimental) from day one. This was the plan since July 2018 — I’m glad we delivered on that promise.

This means users of the JSON:API 8.x-2.x contrib module currently on Drupal 8.5 or 8.6 can update to Drupal 8.7 on its release day and simply delete their current contributed module, and have no disruption in their current use of JSON:API, nor in security coverage! ¹

As promised 3 months ago, Gabe, Mateu and I together with twelve other contributors shipped support for revisions and file uploads today!

What happened since last month? In a nutshell:

Mateu, Gabe and I just released JSON:API 2.0!

Read more about it on Mateu’s blog.

I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. I’m excited to see more projects use it. And I’m confident that we’ll be able to add lots of features in the coming years, without breaking backwards compatibility. I was blown away just now while generating release notes: apparently 63 people contributed. I never realized it was that many. Thanks to all of you :)

I had a bottle of Catalan Ratafia (which has a fascinating history) waiting to celebrate the occasion. Why Ratafia? Mateu is the founder of this module and lives in Mallorca, in Catalunya. Txin txin!

Last week was my twelfth Drupalversary!

The first half dozen years as a volunteer contributor/student, the second half as a full-time contributor/Acquia employee. Which makes this a special Drupalversary and worth looking back on :)

2006–2012

The d.o highlights of the first six years were my Hierarchical Select and CDN modules. I started those in my first year or so of using Drupal (which coincides with my first year at university). They led to a summer job for Mollom, working with/for Dries remotely — vastly better than counting sandwiches or waiting tables!

It also resulted in me freelancing during the school holidays: the Hierarchical Select module gained many features thanks to agencies not just requesting but also sponsoring them. I couldn’t believe that companies thousands of kilometers away would trust a 21-year old to write code for them!

Gabe, Mateu and I just released the third RC of JSON:API 2, so time for an update! The last update is from three weeks ago.

What happened since then? In a nutshell:

Gabe, Mateu and I just released the second RC of JSON:API 2, so time for an update! The last update is from a month ago.

What happened since then? In a nutshell:

I’ve been running a lot lately, and so have been listening to lots of podcasts! Which is how I stumbled upon this great episode of the Lullabot podcast recently — embarrassingly one from over a year ago: “Talking Performance with Pantheon’s David Strauss and Josh Koenig”, with David and Josh from Pantheon and Nate Lampton from Lullabot.

(Also, I’ve been meaning to blog more, including simple responses to other blog posts!)

Interesting remarks about BigPipe

Around 49:00, they start talking about BigPipe. David made these observations around 50:22:

Mateu, Gabe and I just released the first RC of JSON API 2, so time for an update!

It’s been three months since the previous “state of JSON API” blog post, where we explained why JSON API didn’t get into Drupal 8.6 core.

What happened since then? In a nutshell:

Drupal 8’s REST API reached a next level of maturity in 8.5. In 8.6, we matured it further, added features and closed some gaps.

Drupal 8.6 was released ¹ with some significant API-First improvements!

The REST API made a big step forward with the 6th minor release of Drupal 8 — I hope you’ll like these improvements :)

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

1. File uploads! #1927648

   No more crazy per-site custom REST resource plugins, complex work-arounds or base64-encoded hacks! Safe file uploads of any size are now natively supported!

   POST /file/upload/node/article/field_hero_image?_format=json HTTP/1.1
   Content-Type: application/octet-stream
   Content-Disposition: file; filename="filename.jpg"
   [… binary file data …]

   then, after receiving a response to the above request: