Simple Laravel REST API


1) Create the user model in models/UserModel.php 

php artisan make:model User

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Laravel\Sanctum\HasApiTokens;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
use HasApiTokens, HasFactory, Notifiable;

/**
* The attributes that are mass assignable.
*
* @var array<int, string>
*/
protected $fillable = [
'name',
'email',
'password',
];

/**
* The attributes that should be hidden for serialization.
*
* @var array<int, string>
*/
protected $hidden = [
'password',
'remember_token',
];

/**
* The attributes that should be cast.
*
* @var array<string, string>
*/
protected $casts = [
'email_verified_at' => 'datetime',
];
}

 

2) 

create validation for the update requests:  php artisan make:request UserUpdateRequest

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UserUpdateRequest extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* @return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}

/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'name'=>'required',
'email'=>'required|email',
// 'password'=>''
];
}
}


 and for the post request:

php artisan make:request UserPostRequest

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UserPostRequest extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* @return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}

/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'name'=>'required',
'email'=>'required|email',
'password'=>'required'
];
}
}


 

 

create user controller based on the user model: php artisan make:controller UserController --model=User --resource

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Http\Requests\UserPostRequest;
use App\Http\Requests\UserUpdateRequest;
use App\Http\Resources\UserCollection;
use App\Http\Resources\UserResource;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;

class UserController extends Controller
{
public function index()
{
return new UserCollection(User::paginate(5));
}

public function store(UserPostRequest $request)
{
$userData = $request->validated();
$userData['password'] = Hash::make($userData['password']);
$userData['email_verified_at'] = now();

$user = User::forceCreate($userData);
return new UserResource($user);
}

public function show(User $user) //route model binding
{
return new UserResource($user);
}

public function update(User $user, UserUpdateRequest $request)
{
$user->update($request->validated());
}

public function destroy(User $user)
{
$user->delete();
return response()->noContent();
}
}



3) create resources/UserCollection:  php artisan make:resource UserCollection

to return user collection and user resource, when required by the user controller.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;

class UserCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
/**
* Transform the resource collection into an array.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
* @return array|\Illuminate\Contracts\Support\Arrayable|\JsonSerializable
*/

public function toArray($request)
{
return
[
'data'=>$this->collection,
'total_count'=> $this->total()
];
}
}

 

create UserResource: //expose which fields to be returned in the json response.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class UserResource extends JsonResource
{
/**
* Transform the resource into an array.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
* @return array|\Illuminate\Contracts\Support\Arrayable|\JsonSerializable
*/
public function toArray($request)
{
return [
'id' => $this->id,
'name' => $this->name,
'email' => $this->email,
];
}
}

 

4) enable the requests to be performed, and add validation rules when posting and updating information, inside Requests/UserPostRequest.php

php artisan make:request UserPostRequest

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UserPostRequest extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* @return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}

/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'name'=>'required',
'email'=>'required|email',
'password'=>'required'
];
}
}

for updating info:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UserUpdateRequest extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* @return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}

/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'name'=>'required',
'email'=>'required|email',
];
}
}

 

6) add routes/api.php in order to redirect /users to the index() method of the UserController.
<?php

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

use App\Http\Resources\UserCollection;
use App\Models\User;
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class);

Cheers!

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About Nevyan Neykov

I do web design and development for more than 15 years. Have been working in various companies dealing mainly with PHP and JavaScript. Independently as well as in teams, I am involved in design and development of user friendly websites. Exploring the new aspects of JavaScript language such as ES6, as well as the Angular framework and how to apply them in practice. Nowadays I find dealing with Docker / Kubernetes and Linux system administration compelling. @youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC69XQPDbEpfAtO5S2-ZyNoA at udemy: https://www.udemy.com/user/nevyan-neykov/ Have a nice day !

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