What's the difference between _create() and _multiCreate() in the REST API methods?

Question

I am trying to extend the Magento's REST to have my own set of API.

I looked through the code and figured that there are _create(), _multiCreate(), update(), etc...

What's the difference between these methods in the V1.php file?

• _create() and _multiCreate()
• _update() and _multiUpdate()
• _delete() and _multiDelete()

How can I know when I should use which of the 2 functions, the regular or the mutli one?

I couldn't find much documentation on the different methods used to create REST API in Magento.

Answer 1

Looking at code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Api2/Product/Website/Rest.php as an example, we can see _create and _multiCreate methods. The main difference between them is that _multiCreate is expecting an array of elements to create, much like passing this function a collection. In this example, we're setting the website that the product is related to, to a single website, or to multiple websites.

Looking at an example of update and multiUpdate within code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Product/Api/V2.php we can see that, again, multiUpdate is expecting an array of Product Ids (and Product Data). In this instance, you can see a subsequent call to the internal update function anyway within multiUpdate.

multiDelete doesn't appear to exist as a concrete implementation within the core code.