Paging defaults

paging-by-default.md

Paging by default

problems

• easy to forget default limit is there - get dropdowns with just a few options, etc
• have to specify arbitrary-ish big number for page_size to remove limit. how to choose?

benefits

• not having to remember to implement paging
• query performance by default

possible solutions

1. don't used PagedView<> for lookups or queries where consumer probably won't want paging
2. don't make page_number optional for queries with paging: throw error if missing. can't mistake that it's a paged view then
3. only use paging if page_number/page_size specified

KJ - prefer 1&2, 3 could mean getting in the habit of not paging, having slow queries + big results pages?

Would there be much of a downside to mandating a pageNumber query parameter for paged queries? So the caller definitely knows it's paged then? I know from the sounds of it other APIs just default it, and the biggest positive change is carefully considering which endpoints should be paged, but this seems almost free/easy-ish?

Yes I think that is reasonable, that in combination with the pageSize max limit should enforce good responsible usage of paged endpoints.