Showcase API

Static REST API for the UAS Showcase, built for scenarios where URL rewriting is not available.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or newer
• (Static) web server
• SQL database (e.g. MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL)
• Composer (installer included in package)

Installation

Depending on your environment, there are different ways to install the API. Choose the one that fits your environment best.

Manual installation (CLI/SSH)

This is the recommended installation method for environments with CLI/SSH access. If you don't terminal access, see the Installer section.

1. Clone the repository using git clone https://github.com/krokettenkoal/showcase-api.git
2. Download & install Composer (if not yet installed)
3. Install dependencies by switching into the project's root directory and executing composer install
4. Import database tables using the provided SQL dump (e.g. using phpMyAdmin)

Installer (PHP)

Choose this installation method if you don't have terminal access to your server (e.g. for CampusCloud/SHEEP).

1. Clone the repository to your local machine using git clone https://github.com/krokettenkoal/showcase-api.git
2. Copy the cloned repository to your server (e.g. using SFTP). If you copy the project into a subdirectory, make sure to set the API's router.base property in the Configuration file accordingly.
3. Open the setup.php page in your browser (e.g. https://example.com/api/setup.php) and follow the instructions.
4. Import database tables using the provided SQL dump (e.g. using phpMyAdmin)

Enable/disable the installer (setup page)

Once you have completed the setup, it is highly recommended to disable the setup page.

To disable the setup page, create an empty file named .disabled in the __setup folder on your server or simply click the Disable Setup button on the setup page.

To re-enable the setup page, simply delete the .disabled file from the __setup folder on your server.

Configuration

The __src/config directory contains an example config file that may be used as a template. To create a configuration for a certain environment (prod or dev), copy the example config and name it <mode>.inc.php. For example, name the new config file dev.inc.php and tweak the config values to your development environment.

To use the dev configuration (or other environments other than prod), you must set the environment variable API_MODE to the desired value. For example, this can be done when starting the built-in PHP server or by using Apache's mod_env module. If no environment is specified, the prod environment will be used.

Configuration objects

Each configuration file contains a number of configuration objects. These objects are used to configure different parts of the API. The following configuration objects are available:

Database config (CFG_DB)

Key	Type	Description
pdo.dsn	string	The DSN to connect to the database with.
pdo.username	string	The user to connect to the database with.
pdo.password	string	The password for the database user.
pdo.options	array	Additional PDO options

See also: PDO::__construct

API config (CFG_API)

Key	Type	Description
router.base	string	The base path of the API (where the project resides in). Stripped from request URLs by the router.
cors	array	CORS-related settings in the format of the corresponding HTTP headers.

Run development server

To start a local development server, either use the built-in PHP server or a web server of your choice. The built-in PHP server can be started by executing the following command in the project's root directory:

php -S localhost:8888

Remember to set the environment variable API_MODE to dev, as described in the Configuration section.

Routing

Since this API is built for scenarios where URL rewriting is not supported, every API route must have their own index.php file under the corresponding path, calling the Router class to handle the request.

Create static route

To create a new static route, create a new folder hierarchy directly inside the project root, resembling the API route (each portion of the path being a subdirectory). Inside each directory resembling an API route, create an index.php file, require a Router from the __routers directory and call its Router::handle() method. The method takes two optional parameters:

• $req: The Request object to handle. If not specified, the Request object will be created from the current request.
• $path: The request path to handle. If not specified, the current request path will be used. By supplying a custom path, you can handle requests for a different path than the current one (pseudo-rewriting).

Register route

To register the static routes you have created, create a new file inside the __routers directory and instantiate a new Router object (or use an existing one). To register a route, call the Router::route() method on the Router object. The method takes three parameters:

• $path: The path to route. Supports path parameters in the form of {param}. Must start with a leading /.
• $method: The HTTP method to route. Must be one of the constants defined in the Router class.
• $callback: The handler to call when the route is requested. Must be a callable.

The Router class also provides shorthand functions for each HTTP method, e.g. Router::get(). These functions are equivalent to calling the route() method with the corresponding HTTP method.