fake_rest_server – REST server in PHP

“fake_rest_server” is a simple and easy-to-configure REST server made in PHP.

I made it just to create different REST servers very fast for testing purposes.

It can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/jalbam/fake_rest_server

Configuring the server

To add new paths (routes) and methods, the developer just needs to create a new folder structure (folder and subfolders if needed) which represents the route and inside one file per method named [method_desired].php (for example, put.php).

To start developing your REST server, you will only need to download the files inside the src/ folder.

You may want to take a look at the src/_code/functions.php file (the engine will include it automatically) as it provides some basic but useful functions. There you can also add new functions or modify the existing ones.

If you want to add data, you can use the src/_code/data/data.php file (automatically included by the engine).

If you want to add configuration data, you can use the src/_code/config.php file (automatically included by the engine).

As the engine defines the USING_REST_SERVER constant, you can protect any of the files with the following line at the beginning:

<?php if (!defined("USING_REST_SERVER") || !USING_REST_SERVER) { return; } ?>

Note: this authorization code above is also defined in the AUTHORIZATION_CODE constant (inside the the src/_code/config.php file).

Example:

1) In the root folder (where the src/_code/ folder and the src/index.php file are placed), create a folder called myRESTService/.

2) Inside the myRESTService/ folder we have just created, create another folder called user/ and inside of it create two files: index.php and get.php.

3) Inside the myRESTService/user/index.php file, place the following code:

<?php
    //Users info (this could be in the "src/_code/config.php" file, but it is just an example):
    $usersData = Array
    (
        //User IDs:
        "1" =>
            Array
            (
                "name" => "John Doe",
                "favouriteFood" => "meat"
            ),
        "2" =>
            Array
            (
                "name" => "Joan Alba Maldonado",
                "favouriteFood" => "pizza"
            )
    );

    //Gets the data needed which has been sent through the REST client:
    $userId = getVariable("id"); //"getVariable" and other functions available in the "src/_code/functions.php" file.

4) Inside the myRESTService/user/get.php file put the following code:

<?php
    if ($userId === "") { echo "No id sent!"; }
    else if (array_key_exists($userId, $usersData))
    {
        echo $usersData[$userId]["name"] . " likes eating " . $usersData[$userId]["favouriteFood"];
    }
    else { echo "User cannot be found! (id=" . $userId . ")"; }

5) With this, we will have our REST server configured with the myRESTService/user/ route, accepting the GET method with the id parameter. This example can be found in the example_easy/ folder.

Testing the server

If you do not have a REST client, the server can be tested on any web browser by adding the debug=1 parameter to the URL as well as the method parameter with the method desired (not needed if the method is GET ), as for example: http://localhost/fake\_rest\_server/src/index.php/route\_1/subroute?method=post&debug=1&username=Joan

Following the example above, you can use a web browser to visit the following links:

http://localhost/route\_to\_the\_REST\_server/index.php/myRESTService/user/?method=get&debug=1&id=1 (it should show “John Doe likes eating meat”)

http://localhost/route\_to\_the\_REST\_server/index.php/myRESTService/user/?method=get&debug=1&id=2 (it should show “Joan Alba Maldonado likes eating pizza”)

http://localhost/route\_to\_the\_REST\_server/index.php/myRESTService/user/?method=get&debug=1&id=3 (it should show “User cannot be found! (id=3)”)

http://localhost/route\_to\_the\_REST\_server/index.php/myRESTService/user/?method=get&debug=1 (it should show “No id sent!”)

Note that the “/” character at the end of the route is optional.

Final comments

It is very easy to extend using PHP language. The project already includes some examples with routes, methods, functions and data as user accounts, etc. as examples (in both the example/ and the example_easy/ folder) but they can be deleted.

The only really-needed code is located in the src/ folder. Inside of it, the route_1/ folder and all of its content can also be deleted since it is just an example.

License

This project can be used, reproduced, distributed and modified freely for any non-commercial purposes but always keeping the author’s name and copyright clauses. Other than that, just use this project as you wish but never sell it!