#Api plugin

Tools for building RESTful HTTP + JSON APIs for OctoberCMS.

Introduction

This plugin provides two features

1. Console generator which creates Controller and Fractal Transformer in a single command.

2. Basic REST API skeleton that can be really helpful if you need something standard. It's 100% optional.

If you do not use Fractal for your transformation layer, this plugin is probably not the right choice for you.

Installation

• Extract this repository into plugins/autumn/api
• In plugins/autumn/api folder run composer install.

Usage

Generator

The only console command that is added is artisan create:api <AuthorName>.<PluginName> <ModelName>.

Imagine you need to create a rest api to list/create/update etc posts from Acme.Blog plugin. To achieve that you need to do lots of boilerplate operations - create controller, transformer, set up needed routes.

php artisan create:api Acme.Blog Post does all the work for you.

1. The generator creates a routes.php which looks like that:

<?php

    Route::group(['prefix' => 'api/v1'], function() {
        //
        Route::resource('posts', 'Acme\Blog\Controllers\Posts');
    });
    

2. The generator creates a controller that extends base api controller. In the controller you can register your API endpoints via $publicActions property:

<?php

namespace Acme\Blog\Http\Controllers;

use Acme\Blog\Models\Post;
use Acme\Blog\Http\Transformers\PostTransformer;
use Autumn\Api\Classes\ApiController;

class PostsController extends ApiController
{   
    /**
     * Eloquent model.
     *
     * @return \October\Rain\Database\Model
     */
    protected function model()
    {
        return new Post;
    }
    
    /**
     * Transformer for the current model.
     *
     * @return \League\Fractal\TransformerAbstract
     */
    protected function transformer()
    {
        return new PostTransformer;
    }
}

You can customize this stub as much as you want.

3. Finally the generator creates a fractal Transformer

<?php

namespace Acme\Blog\Http\Transformers;

use Acme\Blog\Models\Post;
use League\Fractal\TransformerAbstract;

class PostTransformer extends TransformerAbstract
{   
    /**
     * Turn this item object into a generic array.
     *
     * @param $item
     * @return array
     */
    public function transform(Post $item)
    {
        return [
            'id'         => (int)$item->id,
            'created_at' => (string)$item->created_at,
            'updated_at' => (string)$item->updated_at,
        ];
    }
}

This stub is customizable too.

The list of routes that are available out of the box:

1. GET api/v1/blog/posts
2. GET api/v1/blog/posts/{id}
3. POST api/v1/blog/posts
4. PUT api/v1/blog/posts/{id}
5. DELETE api/v1/blog/posts/{id}

Request and response format is json Fractal includes are supported via $_GET['include']. Validation rules for create and update can be set by overwriting rulesForCreate and rulesForUpdate in your controller.

This skeleton is not a silver bullet but in many cases it can be either exactly what you need or can be used as a decent starting point for your api.

You can check https://github.com/gpasztor87/oc-api-plugin/blob/master/classes/ApiController.php for more info.

Rate Limiting

Rate Limiting (throttling) allows you to limit the number of requests a client can make in a given amount of time. A limit and the expiration time is defined by a throttle. By default the package has two throttles, an authenticated throttle and an unauthenticated throttle.

Enabling Rate Limiting

To enable rate limiting for a route or group of routes you must enable the api.throttle middleware.

    Route::group(['prefix' => 'api/v1', 'middleware' => ['api.throttle:100,5']]], function() {
        // Routes
    });

This would set a request limit of 100 with an expiration time of 5 minutes for this group.