[Engine-devel] REST API calls from the GUI

Hi, I would like to ask, if there have been discussions about an option to call REST API services directly from the Frontend (GWT layer)? GWT compiles Java frontend-side to Javascript, calls to backend services are performed "transparently" by the framework using AJAX support. But, there is still a need to have a special set of data objects and the server-side logic can duplicate. Java REST API SDK enables to build "thick" client. The calls are realized using e.g. Apache HttClient and supported libraries. I think the requirements of GWT can be a little bit different, but something overlaps. I found several links about REST API support from GWT, so there is something for inspiration... - http://www.spiffyui.org/ - http://www.zackgrossbart.com/hackito/gwt-rest/ - http://code.google.com/p/gwt-rest/ - http://restygwt.fusesource.org/ But, do you think it would be useful and what drawbacks can occur (authentication, authorization, response times, need to support larger set of services, painful refactoring, ...)? Regards, Libor