Store and expose links in _meta

[usu]

Assuming the following API payload which contains a link that is named the same as an embedded collection:

{
    "name": "Book No #3",
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "/books/3"
        },
        "chapters": {
            "href": "/chapters?book=3"
        }
    },
    "_embedded": {
        "chapters": [
            {
                "_links": {
                    "self": "/chapters/1028"
                }
            },
            {
                "_links": {
                    "self": "/chapters/1029"
                }
            },
        ]
    }
}

Current behavior
I cannot read the chapters links, as this.api.get('/books/3').chapters() is overwritten by the embedded collection.

let book = this.api.get('/books/3')
console.log(book.chapters()._meta.self) // --> undefined

Proposed behavior
Expose all links in _meta object.

let book = this.api.get('/books/3')
console.log(book._meta.links.chapters) // --> '/chapters?book=3'
this.api().post(book._meta.links.chapters, { title: 'Awesome new chapter' } ) 

This could help to avoid the need for templated links when posting to new objects.

Possible workaround
A workaround possible today is to use a different name for the link, e.g. chaptersLink and then do:

let book = this.api.get('/books/3')
console.log(book.chaptersLink()._meta.self) // --> '/chapters?book=3'
this.api().post(book.chaptersLink()._meta.self, { title: 'Awesome new chapter' }

However, with this I'll trigger an unnecessary API request to chaptersLink().

[usu]

Reading the hal-json-normalizer docu, this discussion and this discussion, then the current behavior should not return undefined. Maybe rather a bug than an enhancement?

[carlobeltrame]

Hm I'll have to take a look at this. Thanks for the report!