[webkit-gtk] WebsiteDataStore API proposal for handling data

[Michael Catanzaro]

On Mon, 2015-06-22 at 12:29 +0200, Carlos Garcia Campos wrote:
> The methods to delete data would be similar, one for every type
> receiving a list of domains or origins, and another one for every 
> type
> to remove all data (like the cookie manager). I'm not sure if the 
> remove
> methods should also use the async pattern approach. The internal API 
> has
> a completion handler, but just as a notification, it doesn't say if 
> the
> removal was successful or not, for example. Users could use the async
> ready callback just to update the UI after a removal, for example.
> Cookie manager doesn't have the callback either, so not using the 
> async
> pattern would be consistent with cookie manager.

I think the async pattern is important, otherwise there's no way to
e.g. show a spinner while the operation is taking place, or know when
it's complete. This is a problem in Epiphany right now; when you hit
Clear Personal Data, the dialog immediately and the only way the user
can know anything happened is to listen to the sound of the hard disk
writing.

I wonder why the internal API doesn't have any error detection. We
should return a GError regardless, even if we can't set it currently,
so that we can add errors in the future.

> So, in summary, I think we have at least the following options:
> 
>  a) Use a single API for all with flags like the internal API
>  b) Use a different method for every data type
>  c) Use different method for every group of data types
>  d) Use a manager class for every group of data types and move
> WebKitCookieManager too.
> 
> Any other option? Any other thing I haven't considered? Which one you
> think is better?

Clearly (d) is the worst option, to add a bunch of classes to the API.

I would do (b) since it's easiest to use, but (c) looks good too.