Call a REST API in PHP

Question

Our client had given me a REST API to which I need to make a PHP call to. But as a matter of fact the documentation given with the API is very limited, so I don't really know how to call the service.

I've tried to Google it, but the only thing that came up was an already expired Yahoo! tutorial on how to call the service. Not mentioning the headers or anything in depth information.

Is there any decent information around how to call a REST API, or some documentation about it? Because even on W3schools, they only describes the SOAP method. What are different options for making rest API in PHP?

Answer 1

You can access any REST API with PHPs cURL Extension. However, the API Documentation (Methods, Parameters etc.) must be provided by your Client!

Example:

// Method: POST, PUT, GET etc
// Data: array("param" => "value") ==> index.php?param=value

function CallAPI($method, $url, $data = false)
{
    $curl = curl_init();

    switch ($method)
    {
        case "POST":
            curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, 1);

            if ($data)
                curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
            break;
        case "PUT":
            curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_PUT, 1);
            break;
        default:
            if ($data)
                $url = sprintf("%s?%s", $url, http_build_query($data));
    }

    // Optional Authentication:
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "username:password");

    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

    $result = curl_exec($curl);

    curl_close($curl);

    return $result;
}