SilverStripe RESTful API

This module implements a RESTful API for read/write access to your SilverStripe Models. It comes bundled with a default Token Authenticator, Query Handler and JSON Serializers, and can be extended to your need and to return XML or other content type via custom components.

API URL structure

Action	HTTP Verb	URL
Find 1 record	`GET`	`api/Model/ID`
Find multiple records	`GET`	`api/Model?param=val&__rand=1234`
Update a record	`PUT`	`api/Model/ID`
Create a record	`POST`	`api/Model`
Delete a record	`DELETE`	`api/Model/ID`
-	-	-
Login & get token	n/a	`api/auth/login?email=*&pwd=*`
Logout	n/a	`api/auth/logout`
Password reset email	n/a	`api/auth/lostPassword?email=***`
-	-	-
Custom ACL methods	n/a	`api/acl/YOURMETHOD`

Model being the class name of the model you are querying (name formatting may vary depending on DeSerializer used). For example with a model class named Book URLs would look like:

api/Book/33
api/Book?title=Henry
api/Book?title__StartsWith=Henry
api/Book?title__StartsWith=Henry&__rand=123456&__limit=1
api/Book?title__StartsWith=Henry&__rand=123456&__limit[]=10&__limit[]=5

The allowed /auth/$Action must be defined on the used RESTfulAPI_Authenticator class via the $allowed_actions config.

Requirements

SilverStripe Framework 3.1+

Quick features highlight

What's all this?

RESTfulAPI

This is the main API Controller that receives all the requests, checks if authentication is needed and passing control to the authenticator if true, the resquest is then passed on to the QueryHandler, which uses the DeSerializer to figure out model & column names and decode the eventual payload from the client, the query result is then passed to the Serializer to be formatted and then returned to the client.

If CORS are enabled (true by default), the right headers are taken care of too.

Components

The RESTfulAPI uses 4 types of components, each implementing a different interface:

Authetication (RESTfulAPI_Authenticator)
Permission Management (RESTfulAPI_PermissionManager)
Query Handler (RESTfulAPI_QueryHandler)
Serializer (RESTfulAPI_Serializer)

Default components

This API comes with defaults for each of those components:

RESTfulAPI_TokenAuthenticator handles authentication via a token in an HTTP header or variable
RESTfulAPI_DefaultPermissionManager handles DataObject permission checks depending on the HTTP request
RESTfulAPI_DefaultQueryHandler handles all find, edit, create or delete for models
RESTfulAPI_BasicSerializer / RESTfulAPI_BasicDeSerializer serialize query results into JSON and deserialize client payloads
RESTfulAPI_EmberDataSerializer / RESTfulAPI_EmberDataDeSerializer same as the Basic version but with specific fomatting fo Ember Data.

You can create you own classes by implementing the right interface or extending the existing components. When creating you own components, any error should be return as a RESTfulAPI_Error object to the RESTfulAPI.

Token Authentication Extension

When using RESTfulAPI_TokenAuthenticator you must add the RESTfulAPI_TokenAuthExtension DataExtension to a DataObject and setup RESTfulAPI_TokenAuthenticator with the right config.

By default, API authentication is disabled.

Permissions management

DataObject API access control can be managed in 2 ways. Through the api_access YML config allowing for simple configurations, or via DataObject permissions through a RESTfulAPI_PermissionManager component.

A sample Group extension RESTfulAPI_GroupExtension is also available with a basic set of dedicated API permissions. This can be enabled via config or you can create your own.

By default, the API only performs access control against the api_access YML config.

Config

See individual component configuration file for mode details

RESTfulAPI the root of the api
TokenAuthenticator handles query authentication via token
DefaultPermissionManager handles DataObject level permissions check
DefaultQueryHandler where most of the logic happens
BasicSerializer BasicSerializer and DeSerializer for everyday use
EmberDataSerializer EmberDataSerializer and DeSerializer speicifrcally design for use with Ember Data and application/vnd.api+json

Here is what a site's config.yml file could look like:

---
Name: mysite
After: 'framework/*','cms/*'
---
# API access
Artwork:
  api_access: true
Author:
  api_access: true
Category:
  api_access: true
Magazine:
  api_access: true
Tag:
  api_access: 'GET,POST'
Visual:
  api_access: true
Image:
  api_access: true
File:
  api_access: true
Page:
  api_access: false
# RestfulAPI config
RESTfulAPI:
  authentication_policy: true
  access_control_policy: 'ACL_CHECK_CONFIG_AND_MODEL'
  dependencies:
    authenticator: '%$RESTfulAPI_TokenAuthenticator'
    authority: '%$RESTfulAPI_DefaultPermissionManager'
    queryHandler: '%$RESTfulAPI_DefaultQueryHandler'
    serializer: '%$RESTfulAPI_EmberDataSerializer'
  cors:
    Enabled: true
    Allow-Origin: 'http://mydomain.com'
    Allow-Headers: '*'
    Allow-Methods: 'OPTIONS, GET'
    Max-Age: 86400
# Components config
RESTfulAPI_DefaultQueryHandler:
  dependencies:
    deSerializer: '%$RESTfulAPI_EmberDataDeSerializer'
RESTfulAPI_EmberDataSerializer:
  sideloaded_records:
    Artwork:
      - 'Visuals'
      - 'Authors'

In the wild

hesainprint.com

Todo

API access IP throttling (limit request per minute for each IP or token)
Check components interface implementation

License (BSD Simplified)

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of Thierry Francois, colymba nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

tscole/silverstripe-restfulapi