Hateoas

A PHP library to support implementing representations for HATEOAS REST web services.

Installation

Using Composer, just require the willdurand/hateoas package:

{
    "require": {
        "willdurand/hateoas": "@stable"
    }
}

Otherwise, install the library and setup the autoloader yourself.

Usage

This library is under heavy development but basically it's a wrapper to add hypermedia links to a resource or a collection of resources.

Resource

First of all, you have to wrap your data in a Resource object:

<?php

$resource = new Resource(array('foo' => 'bar'));
// or
$resource = new Resource($user);

Now, you are able to add links to this resource:

<?php

$resource->addLink(new Link('http://example.com/users/999', Link::REL_SELF));
$resource->addLink(new Link('http://example.com/users/999/friends', 'friends', 'application/vnd.acme.users'));

To sum up, a Resource contains data and links related to the data.

RouteAwareLinkBuilder, CallableLinkBuilder

This library also provides a RouteAwareLinkBuilder which relies on a UrlGeneratorInterface instance under the hood. In Symfony2, you could use the router service as shown in the following example, but this library is not tied to Symfony2.

<?php

// if you want to use the Symfony2 router in a Symfony2 project
$linkBuilder = new RouteAwareLinkBuilder($this->get('router'));

// in a Silex project
$linkBuilder = new RouteAwareLinkBuilder($app['url_generator']);

// Generate a "self" link
$selfLink = $linkBuilder->create('user_get', array('id' => $user->getId()), Link::REL_SELF);
$resource->addLink($selfLink);

The RouteAwareLinkBuilder has been described above. This builder uses the Symfony2 Router, but what if you don't use it? CallableLinkBuilder to the rescue! This builder takes a callable as argument:

<?php

use Hateoas\Builder\CallableLinkBuilder;

$linkBuilder = new CallableLinkBuilder(function ($route, $parameters) use ($myRouter) {
    return $myRouter->generateRoute($route, $parameters);
});

Note About The Serializer

Hateoas uses the JMS Serializer, and hooks into it to provide nice features, but that also means you need to use a configured serializer. Hateoas provides a configured serializer through Hateoas::getSerializer().

If you don't want to use this configured serializer, be sure to enable annotations support, and to register the Handler bundled with Hateoas.

Also, be sure to enable annotations as Hateoas uses them. The fastest way to activate annotations is to add the following line somewhere near your autoloader configuration:

<?php

Doctrine\Common\Annotations\AnnotationRegistry::registerLoader('class_exists');

Using Factories and Builders

Hateoas provides factories and builders to generate Resource and Link instances. A Factory takes a ConfigInterface object as argument. That means you can use XML, YAML, annotations, etc. even if it's not yet implemented in the library itself.

Config

At the moment, Hateoas is bundled with an ArrayConfig and a YamlConfig which relies on the Symfony2 Yaml component under the hood.

ArrayConfig

The ArrayConfig class takes two arrays as arguments.

YamlConfig

The YamlConfig class takes either a filename or a string containing a YAML configuration as described below:

hateoas:
    resources:
        Acme\Entity\Location:
            links:
                - { route: 'location.get',          parameters: [ 'id' ], rel: 'self',      type: 'application/vnd.acme.location' }
                - { route: 'location.get_comments', parameters: [ 'id' ], rel: 'comments',  type: 'application/vnd.acme.comments' }
            embeds:
                - { name: 'last-comments', accessor: 'lastComments'}
        Acme\Entity\Comment:
            links:
                - { route: 'comment.get',           parameters: [ 'id' ], rel: 'self',      type: 'application/vnd.acme.comment' }

    collections:
        Acme\Entity\Location:
            rootName: locations
            links:
                - { route: 'location.all', rel: 'self', type: 'application/vnd.acme.locations' }

        Acme\Entity\Comment:
            rootName: comments
            links:
                - { route: 'comment.all', rel: 'self', type: 'application/vnd.acme.comments' }

LinkDefinition, RouteLinkDefinition

In order to describe a Link, you need to define a rel attribute (and optionally a type). If you are using Symfony2, you can describe a RouteLinkDefinition so that you can define a route and its parameters:

<?php

$linkDefinition = array(
    'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_get',
    'parameters' => array('id'),
    'rel'        => Link::REL_SELF,
    'type'       => null
);
// or
$linkDefinition = new RouteLinkDefinition('acme_demo.user_get', array('id'), Link::REL_SELF);

Note: you can use the RouteLinkDefinition even if you don't use the Symfony2 Router. It can be useful if your own router relies on the same principle (a route and its parameters).

EmbedDefinition

You can load embeds resources from within a defined resource. You need to define a name for the collection you are embedding, and optionally an accessor to load it from the parent resource.

<?php

$embedDefinition = array(
    'name' => 'comments',
    'accessor' => 'TopComments'
);
//or
$embedDefinition = new EmbedDefinition('comments', 'TopComments');

Note: The embed resources are rendered as a sequence of individual resources, not as a collection.

Factory, RouteAwareFactory

Now, you need a factory. Symfony2 users will be interested in the RouteAwareFactory, others can implement their own Factory:

<?php

use Hateoas\Factory\RouteAwareFactory;

$factory = new RouteAwareFactory(
    new ArrayConfig(
        array(
            'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User' => array(
                'links' => array(
                    $linkDefinition,
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.friend_get',
                        'parameters' => array('id'),
                        'rel'        => 'friends',
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    )
);

This factory allows to create a ResourceDefinition by taking either an instance or a classname. This definition contains a class name and a set of LinkDefinition. The RouteAwareFactory described above allows to create RouteLinkDefinition instances.

ResourceBuilder

Now, you probably want to create resources using your configuration. Thanks to the ResourceBuilder it's super easy. A ResourceBuilder needs a RouteAwareLinkBuilder and a Factory:

<?php

use Hateoas\Builder\ResourceBuilder;

$resourceBuilder = new ResourceBuilder($factory, $linkBuilder);

Now, you can create a resource for a given object:

<?php

$resource = $resourceBuilder->create($user);

$resource is an instance of Resource and contains two Link (self and friends).

Playing With Collections

You need to pass a configuration array for your collections as second argument of your Factory:

<?php

use Hateoas\Factory\RouteAwareFactory;

$factory = new RouteAwareFactory(
    new ArrayConfig(
        // single resource
        array(
            'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User' => array(
                'links' => array(
                    $linkDefinition,
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.friend_get',
                        'parameters' => array('id'),
                        'rel'        => 'friends',
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    )
                ),
                'embed' => array(
                    $embedDefinition,
                    array('name' => 'best_friends', 'accessor' => 'BestFriends')
                )
            )
        ),
        // collection
        array(
            'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User' => array(
                'links' => array(
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_SELF,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_NEXT
                    ),
                ),
            ),
        )
    )
);

Then, you just have to call the createCollection() method on the ResourceBuilder:

<?php

$collection = $resourceBuilder->createCollection(
    array($user1, $user2, ...),
    'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User'
);

A Collection contains a set of resources, links related to these resources, and metadata about the collection. For instance, you can set the rootName that is the name of the set of resources.

If you use pagination, you can set the number of resources (total), the current page, and the limit.

Dealing With Child Properties

Both methods create() and createCollection() accept an optional parameter to define child properties to iterate over. For example you have a Post with a author property.

With the following code it adds also hyperlinks to the author object:

<?php

$resource = $resourceBuilder->create($user, array('objectProperties' => array('author')));

Examples

Quick Example

Let's say you have an application that manages a set of locations, and each location owns a set of comments. According to the YAML configuration shown above, here are the outputs:

GET /locations

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<locations>
  <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.locations"/>
  <location>
    <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/1" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.location"/>
    <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/1/comments" rel="comments" type="application/vnd.example.comments"/>
    <id><![CDATA[1]]></id>
    <name><![CDATA[test]]></name>
    <created_at><![CDATA[2013-02-07T18:37:03+0100]]></created_at>
  </location>
  <location>
    <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/4" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.location"/>
    <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/4/comments" rel="comments" type="application/vnd.example.comments"/>
    <id><![CDATA[4]]></id>
    <name><![CDATA[foobar]]></name>
    <created_at><![CDATA[2013-02-07T18:37:04+0100]]></created_at>
  </location>
</locations>

{
   "locations" : [
      {

         "_links" : {
            "self": {
               "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/1",
               "type" : "application/vnd.example.location"
            },
            "comments": {
               "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/1/comments",
               "type" : "application/vnd.example.comments"
            }
         },
         "id" : "1",
         "name" : "test",
         "created_at" : "2013-02-07T18:37:03+0100",
      },
      {

         "_links" : {
            "self": {
               "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/4",
               "type" : "application/vnd.example.location"
            },
            "comments": {
               "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/4/comments",
               "type" : "application/vnd.example.comments"
            }
         },
         "id" : "4",
         "name" : "foobar",
         "created_at" : "2013-02-07T18:37:04+0100"
      }
   ],
   "_links" : {
      "self": {
         "rel" : "self",
         "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations",
         "type" : "application/vnd.example.locations"
      }
   }
}

The JSON representation of links follows the Hypertext Application Language specification.

GET /locations/4

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<location>
  <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/4" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.location"/>
  <link href="http://localhost:8081/locations/4/comments" rel="comments" type="application/vnd.example.comments"/>
  <id><![CDATA[4]]></id>
  <name><![CDATA[foobar]]></name>
  <created_at><![CDATA[2013-02-07T18:37:04+0100]]></created_at>
</location>

{
   "_links" : {
      "self": {
         "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/4",
         "type" : "application/vnd.example.location"
      },
      "comments": {
         "href" : "http://localhost:8081/locations/4/comments",
         "type" : "application/vnd.example.comments"
      }
   },
   "id" : "4",
   "name" : "foobar",
   "created_at" : "2013-02-07T18:37:04+0100"
}

GET /locations/4/comments

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<comments>
  <link href="http://localhost:8081/comments" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.comments"/>
  <comment>
    <link href="http://localhost:8081/comments/8" rel="self" type="application/vnd.example.comment"/>
    <id><![CDATA[8]]></id>
    <username><![CDATA[anonymous]]></username>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    <created_at><![CDATA[2013-02-07T19:41:14+0100]]></created_at>
  </comment>
</comments>

{
   "comments" : [
      {
         "_links" : {
            "self": {
               "href" : "http://localhost:8081/comments/8",
               "type" : "application/vnd.example.comment"
            }
         },
         "id" : "8",
         "username" : "anonymous",
         "body" : "",
         "created_at" : "2013-02-07T19:41:14+0100"
      },
   ],
   "_links" : {
      "self": {
         "href" : "http://localhost:8081/comments",
         "type" : "application/vnd.example.comments"
      }
   }
}

Example With A (Propel) Pager

Let's say you have a pager like the Propel Pager, you can configure a set of links for your collection:

$factory = new RouteAwareFactory(
    new ArrayConfig(
        // single resource
        array(
            'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User' => array(
                $linkDefinition,
                array(
                    'route'      => 'acme_demo.friend_get',
                    'parameters' => array('id'),
                    'rel'        => 'friends',
                    'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                ),
            ),
        ),
        // collection
        array(
            'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User' => array(
                'links' => array(
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_SELF,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page' => 'firstPage'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_FIRST,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page' => 'lastPage'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_LAST,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page' => 'nextPage'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_NEXT,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                    array(
                        'route'      => 'acme_demo.user_all',
                        'parameters' => array('page' => 'previousPage'),
                        'rel'        => Link::REL_PREVIOUS,
                        'type'       => 'application/vnd.acme.users'
                    ),
                ),
                'attributes' => array(
                    'page'  => 'page',
                    'limit' => 'maxPerPage',
                    'total' => 'nbResults',
                )
            ),
        )
    )
);

Then, do:

<?php

$collection = $resourceBuilder->createCollection(
    UserQuery::create()->paginate(), // returns an instance of ModelPager
    'Acme\DemoBundle\Model\User'
);

You will get the following output:

{
  "total": 1000,
  "page": 1,
  "limit": 10,
  "resources": [
    {
      "id": 999,
      "username": "xxxx",
      "email": "xxx@example.org",
      "_links": {
        "self": {
          "href": "http://example.com/users/999"
        }
      }
    },
    // ...
  ],
  "_links": {
    "self": {
      "href": "http://example.com/users?page=1",
      "type": "application/vnd.acme.users"
    },
    "previous": {
      "href": "http://example.com/users?page=1",
      "type":"application/vnd.acme.users"
    },
    "next": {
      "href": "http://example.com/users?page=2",
      "type":"application/vnd.acme.users"
    },
    "first": {
      "href": "http://example.com/users?page=1",
      "type":"application/vnd.acme.users"
    },
    "last": {
      "href": "http://example.com/users?page=100",
      "type":"application/vnd.acme.users"
    }
  }
}

License

Hateoas is released under the MIT License. See the bundled LICENSE file for details.

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README.md

README.md

Hateoas

Installation

Usage

Resource

RouteAwareLinkBuilder, CallableLinkBuilder

Note About The Serializer

Using Factories and Builders

Config

ArrayConfig

YamlConfig

LinkDefinition, RouteLinkDefinition

EmbedDefinition

Factory, RouteAwareFactory

ResourceBuilder

Playing With Collections

Dealing With Child Properties

Examples

Quick Example

GET /locations

GET /locations/4

GET /locations/4/comments

Example With A (Propel) Pager

License

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

Hateoas

Installation

Usage

Resource

RouteAwareLinkBuilder, CallableLinkBuilder

Note About The Serializer

Using Factories and Builders

Config

ArrayConfig

YamlConfig

LinkDefinition, RouteLinkDefinition

EmbedDefinition

Factory, RouteAwareFactory

ResourceBuilder

Playing With Collections

Dealing With Child Properties

Examples

Quick Example

GET /locations

GET /locations/4

GET /locations/4/comments

Example With A (Propel) Pager

License