Greetings BrightBase Web Service API Users:

This update includes a description of the BrightBase Web Services API changes that we plan in our upcoming release, planned for Wednesday, May 7, 2008, at 11:59pm ET pending certification by our Quality Assurance group. This update summarizes enhancements to that release only. If you are not the implementer of the BrightBase Web Services API, please forward this to the appropriate person.

FindObjects Update
We have enhanced the FindObjects (and, as a result, the FindObject) Web method to return partial objects. Many of you commented on how you often just need bits of data and not the entire object, which can be a heavy payload. Full object retrieval is still fully supported and no code changes are needed. But now, the BrightDoor Query Language supports a syntax that looks like the following:

Please note, that in the above example a entity object is still returned. So for values that you do not explicitly select they are defaulted to their natural state. This may mean you have an object with seemingly invalid data, especially with dates and Booleans. So keep this in mind. However, the advantage is a much smaller XML payload and this should be a big benefit to those who just needs slices of data for your other business needs.

Notification Technology
Our last update mentioned the concept of notifications when objects are created and/or updated. We have selected the Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) which will allow developers to subscribe to messages based on a set of business rules defined within BrightBase. This enhancement will roll out later this year and we welcome your input on how to best make use of this technology and this concept. If you are unfamiliar with SQS, please check out http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Queue-Service-home-page/b?ie=UTF8&node=13584001.