[GetConnect] Make FormData as the default acceptable parameter.

[pratamatama]

Currently there is 2 approach to send data from the client to the server through GetConnect. One with FormData and one with just Map. Why not just unify the usage like making FormData as the default requirement as the parameter? And convert them to JSON internally just let them pass as Map if no MultipartFile provided.

These "separation" of type are confusing for people that want to get started. And currently, FormData also create a problem for bool; which was converted into a String ("true", and "false"), which are unacceptable by some serverside validator like Laravel.

Take this snippet as example:

final data = FormData({
  'logo': logoFile, // MultipartFile? (nullable entry)
  'name': name, // String
  'multiple_assignees': multipleAssignees(), // bool
  'custom_label': customLabel(), // bool
});

There, we want to send data which might contain a MultipartFile and also contain a bool. And guess, because we are using Laravel and it doesn't allow string representation of boolean, the validation will fail. And since Map produce this error, we cannot use it.

Converting object to an encodable object failed: Instance of 'MultipartFile'

The only way to do this is to manually cast the boolean value into a string of "1" or "0", on every single part of the code that needed the same data structure to be sent. Not a big deal, but it's repetitive. Or make a custom middleware/validator on serverside that could possibly create a security issue if not taken seriously. If true and false are acceptable, and won't produce security issue, why not just allow it to be as it is instead of converting it to a string?

It also create inconsistency between classes, which some of their method accepts Map and some accepts FormData. Wouldn't it be nice if everything are set to FormData and we could just get rid of that "Am I doing it right?" feeling when you just getting started with GetX?

What do you think?

[ad-on-is]

FormData should NOT be the default, since mobile apps, in most cases, consume APIs which send and receive JSON (map) data. JSON is the de facto standard for APIs.

Since you're working with Laravel. Imagine FormData as being an html-form. It by default has no boolean values, therefore "1". And the Laravel validator can validate boolean if you send it as JSON.

So, your (serverside) decision of accepting multipart formdata, instead of JSON is not necessarily wrong, but it's not "how it's done nowadays".

I was recently working on a project, where I had to consume 3 APIs, one of which accepted FormData, while all others accepted JSON.