README

A Zend Framework 2 module to help you create RESTful web services.

Installation

ZendRestModule can be installed via composer.

php composer.phar require aeris/zend-rest-module

Then add 'Aeris\ZendRestModule' to the 'modules' config in /config/application.config.php.

Features

ZendRestModule provides a number of features to facilitate creating a RESTful web service.

Entity serialization
RESTful Exception handling
Test Helpers

Serializer

ZendRestModule uses the popular JMS Serializer to serialize and deserialize application models.

The JMS Serializer allows you to use Annotations, XML, or YML to configure how objects are serialized and deserialized from raw data.

While you can use the JMS serializer on its own, ZendRestModule introduces behaviors to make serialization/deserialization a lot easier in the context of Zend APIs.

Here's how a RESTful controller might look without the ZendRestModule:

Automatic Enitity Serialization

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
	public function get($id) {
    	// Grab the animal entity from the database
    	$animal = $this
        	->animalRepository
            ->find($id);
        
        // Serialize the animal into a JSON string
        $jsonString = $this
        	->serviceManager
            ->get('the_jms_serializer_service_I_configured_on_my_own')
            ->serialize($animal, 'json');

		// But JsonModel expects an array, so we need
        // deserialize the JSON string back into a php array.
		$serializedData = json_decode($jsonString);
        
        return new JsonModel($serializedData);
    }
}

Using the ZendRestModule, you can simply return the raw model:

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
	public function get($id) {
    	return $this
        	->animalRepository
            ->find($id);
    }
}

The ZendRestModule will intercept the return value, convert the model to a SerializedJsonModel, then serialize the data according to your JMS Serializer configuration.

Deserialize onto Existing Entities

Out of the box, the JMS Serializer allows you to deserialize raw data into entity objects.

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
	public function create($data) {
    	// Deserialize the raw JSON data into 
        // a MyApp\Entity\Animal object
    	$animal = $this->serviceManager
            ->get('Aeris\ZendRestModule\Serializer')
            ->deserialize($data, 'MyApp\Entity\Animal');
        
        $this->saveToDb($animal);
        
        return $animal;
    }
}

ZendRestModule includes a JMS object constructor extension, which allows you to deserialize data onto an existing entity. This is very useful for PUT requests, where the request data my not be a fully defined entity.

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
	public function update($id, $data) {
    	$animal = $this->entityManager
        	->getRepo('MyApp\Entity\Animal')
        	->find($id);
        
        // Update the existing animal from the
        // PUT data
        $this->serviceManager
            ->get('Aeris\ZendRestModule\Serializer')
            ->deserialize($data, $animal);
            
        $this->saveToDb($animal);
        
        return $animal;
   	} 
   
}

See this article for a long rant about how and why this works.

Serialization Groups

The JMS Serializer allows you to configure serialization groups for entities. This is useful for setting what data different request return. For example, I may only want to see an animal's id and name in a getList response, but see more details in a get response:

use JMS\Serializer\Annotation as JMS;

class Animal {
	/**
	 * @JMS\Groups({"animalSummary", "animalDetails"})
	 * @var int
	 */
	public $id;

	/**
	 * @JMS\Groups({"animalSummary", "animalDetails"})
	 * @var string
	 */
	public $name;

	/**
	 * @JMS\Groups({"animalDetails"})
	 * @var string
	 */
	public $species;

	/**
	 * @JMS\Groups({"animalDetails"})
	 * @var string
	 */
	public $color;

	/**
	 * @JMS\Groups({"dates"})
	 * @var
	 */
	public $birthDate;
}

The Aeris\ZendRestModule\View\Annotation\Groups annotation allows you to configure which serialization groups will be used for each controller action.

use Aeris\ZendRestModule\View\Annotation as View;

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
  
  /**
  * @View\Groups({"animalDetails", "dates"})
  */
  public function get($id) {
  	return $this->entityManager->find($id);
  }
  
  /**
  * @View\Groups({"animalSummary"})
  */
  public function getList() {
  	return $this->entityManager->findAll();
  }
}

You can also configure serialization groups in the zend_rest config:

[
	'controllers' => [
    	'invokables' => [
        	'MyApp\Animals\AnimalRest' => '\MyApp\Animals\AnimalRestController',
        ]
    ],
	'zend_rest' => [
    	'controllers' => [
        	'MyApp\Animals\AnimalRest' => [
            	'serialization_groups' => [
                	'get' => ['animalDetails', 'dates'],
                    'getList' => ['animalSummary']
                ]
            ]
        ]
    ]
]

Other Serializer Components

DateTimeTimestampHandler

Serializes/deserializes between unix timestamps and \DateTime objects.

class Animal {
	/**
     * @JMS\Type("DateTimeTimestamp")
     *
     * @var \DateTime
     */
	public $birthDate;
}

The serializer will now deserialize birthDate timestamps into \DateTime objects, and serialize birthDate as a timestamp.

Serializer Configuration Reference

[
	'zend_rest' => [
    	'serializer' => [
        	// Implementations of \JMS\Serializer\Handler\SubscribingHandlerInterface
            // See http://jmsyst.com/libs/serializer/master/handlers
        	'handlers' => [
            	// Registers the DateTimeTimestamp Handler by default,
                '\Aeris\ZendRestModule\Service\Serializer\Handler\DateTimeTimestampHandler',
            ],
            
            // Event subscribers
            // implementing \JMS\Serializer\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface.
            // May be services or fully qualified class names.
            // See http://jmsyst.com/libs/serializer/master/event_system
            'subscribers' => [
            	'MyApp\Serializer\Subscriber\MyAwesomeEventSubscriber'
            ],
            
            // Event listeners,
            // categorized by event name.
            // See http://jmsyst.com/libs/serializer/master/event_system
            'listeners' => [
            	'serializer.pre_serialize' => [
                	function(\JMS\Serializer\EventDispatcher\PreSerializeEvent $event) {
                    	// some fantastic event handling logic
                    },
                ],
            ],

            // An implementation of \JMS\Serializer\Naming\PropertyNamingStrategyInterface
            // The '\Aeris\ZendRestModule\Service\Serializer\Naming\IdenticalPropertyNamingStrategy` (default)
            // fixes a bug in the `\JMS\Serializer\Naming\IdenticalPropertyNamingStrategy`
            // See https://github.com/schmittjoh/serializer/issues/334
            'naming_strategy' => '\Aeris\ZendRestModule\Service\Serializer\Naming\IdenticalPropertyNamingStrategy',
            
            // An implementation of \JMS\Serializer\Construction\ObjectConstructorInterface
            // The 'Aeris\ZendRestModule\Serializer\Constructor\InitializedObjectConstructor' (default)
            // allows data to be deserialized onto existing entities.
            'object_constructor' => 'Aeris\ZendRestModule\Serializer\Constructor\InitializedObjectConstructor',
            
            // Set to false to disable the @MaxDepth annotation.
            // ZendRestModule sets this to true by default.
            // Note, however, that the JMSSerializers sets this to false by default.
            'enable_max_depth' => true,
        ]
	],
]

RESTful Exception Handling

ZendRestModule catches errors and exceptions thrown during the MVC event cycle, and converts the errors into JSON responses.

Example

This example configures JSON output for errors occuring in the Animals Web Service.

// zend-rest.config.php
'zend_rest' => [
	'errors' => [
    	[
        	// The `error` can be a Zend\Mvc error string
            // or the class name of an Exception
			'error' => \Zend\Mvc\Application::ERROR_ROUTER_NO_MATCH,
            
            // HTTP response code
        	'http_code' => 404,
            
            The `error.code` property of the JSON response object
        	'application_code' => 'invalid_request',
            
            The `error.details` property of the JSON response object
        	'details' => 'The requested endpoint or action is invalid and not supported.',
        ],
        [
        	'error' => 'MyApp\Exception\RidiculousAnimalException',
            'http_code' => 418,
            'applicationCode' => 'ridiculous_animal_error',
            'details' => 'The animal you have requested is too riduculous for our web service.',
            'on_error' => function(RestErrorEvt $evt) {
            	// This is a good place to log errors
            	$exception = $evt->getError();
            	error_log($exception);
                
                // You can also modify the error view model
                $viewModel = $evt->getViewModel();
                $errorObject = $viewModel->getVariable('error');
                
                $errorObject['animal'] = $exception->getAnimal();
                $viewModel->setVariable('error', $errorObject);
            }
        ],
        [
            // You should always include a fallback '\Exception' handler.
        	'error' => '\Exception',
            'http_code' => 500,
            'application_code' => 'uh_oh',
            'details' => 'whoops!',
        ]
    ]
]

class AnimalRestController extends AbstractRestfulController {
	public function get($id) {
    	if ($id === 'narwhal') {
        	throw new RidiculousAnimalException("narwhal");
        }
        
        return $this->animalRepo->find($id);
    }
}

A GET request to /animals/narwhal would return a JSON object so:

HTTP Code 418
{
	"error": {
    	"code": "ridiculous_animal_error",
        "details": "The animal you have requested is too riduculous for our web service.",
        "animal": "narwhal"
    }
}

The error would also be written to the server log, by way of the on_error callback.

Similarly a request to /not/an/endpoint would return a 404 error, with a invalid_request JSON application code.

AbstractTestCase

The \Aeris\ZendRestModuleTest\AbstractTestCase is an extension of the \Zend\Test\PHPUnit\Controller\AbstractHttpControllerTestCase. It provides a few utilities for testing restful APIs, and a number of new assertions. It is not necessary to use this test case class when working with the ZendRestModule.

Configuration Reference

[
	'zend_rest' => [
    	// Required.
    	'cache_dir' => __DIR__ . '/cache'
        
        // Set to true to disable caching.
        'debug' => false,
        

        // See "Exception Handling" documentation
        'errors' => [
          [
              'error' => \Zend\Mvc\Application::ERROR_ROUTER_NO_MATCH,
              'http_code' => 404,
              'application_code' => 'invalid_request',
              'details' => 'The requested endpoint or action is invalid and not supported.',
              'on_error' => function(RestErrorEvt $evt) {
              	error_log("Someone requested an invalid endpoint.");
              }
          ]
        ],
        
        'controllers' => [
        	// See "Serialization Groups" documentation.
        	'serialization_groups' => [
            	'MyApp\Controller\UserRest' => [
                	'get' => ['details', 'timestamps'],
                    'getList' => ['summary']
                ]
            ] 
        ],
        
        // See "Serializer" documentation
        'serializer' => [
        	'handlers' [
                '\Aeris\ZendRestModule\Service\Serializer\Handler\DateTimeTimestampHandler',
            ],
            'naming_strategy' => '\Aeris\ZendRestModule\Service\Serializer\Naming\IdenticalPropertyNamingStrategy',
            'object_constructor' => 'Aeris\ZendRestModule\Serializer\Constructor\InitializedObjectConstructor',
            'enable_max_depth' => true,
        ]
    ]
]

Have fun!

aeris / zend-rest-module

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