sfDoctrineRestGeneratorPlugin
Introduction
This plugin permits to generate REST modules bound to Doctrine models. It
allows to easily create REST webservices, and provides an extensible framework
for data exchange. Here are some key features :
- REST module generation "Ã la admin-generator"
- easy-to-customize generator.yml configuration file
- possibility to embed related models
- possibility to embed extra fields
- validation of the GET and POST constraints using Symfony validators
- ability to limit the number of results, with/out pagination
- support for constraints unions (ie., http://api.example.org/city?city_id=12,13,14)
- abstract and replaceable objects serialization
How to installed
go to your project's root
Install the plugin:
./symfony plugin:install http://plugins.symfony-project.com/sfDoctrineRestGeneratorPlugin
clear the cache:
./symfony cc
alternatively, you might prefer to install this plugin as a Subversion dependancy. In this case, here is the repository: http://svn.symfony-project.com/plugins/sfDoctrineRestGeneratorPlugin
Usage
REST module generation
Generating a REST module is pretty straightforward:
./symfony doctrine:generate-rest-module APPLICATION MODULE MODEL
This will create a module named "MODULE" in the application "APPLICATION", and
this module will be configured to expose the "MODEL" model through a
REST-style service.
What is generated
Let suppose we have the following model :
Post:
actAs: [ Timestampable ]
columns:
post_category_id: integer(4)
created_by: integer
title: {type: string(128), notnull: true}
summary: {type: string(255), notnull: true}
body: clob
relations:
CreatedBy: { class: sfGuardUser, onDelete: SET NULL, local: created_by, foreign: id, foreignAlias: CreatedPost }
PostCategory: { class: PostCategory, onDelete: SET NULL, local: post_category_id, foreign: id }
PostCategory:
columns:
id: { type: integer(4), primary: true, autoincrement: true }
name: { type: string, size: 100, notnull: true, unique: true }
description: clob
is_enabled: { type: boolean, default: true }
If we want to expose the model "Post" through a REST API, we will simply type
the command:
./symfony doctrine:generate-rest-module api post Post
This will generate:
a new route in the routing.yml file of the "api" application :
Post:
class: sfObjectRouteCollection
options:
model: Post
actions: [ create, list, delete ]
module: post
column: id
format: xml
a "post" RESTgen module, in apps/api/modules/post, with four sub-directories:
- actions: contains a "postActions" class, which extends a on-the-fly generated "autopostActions" class,
- config: contains the files generator.yml and view.yml (see the chapter "Service configuration" for explanations on how to configure the generated module),
- lib: contains an empty "postGeneratorConfiguration" class, which extends a on-the-fly generated "BasePostGeneratorConfiguration" class,
- templates
after a first request has been made to the REST module, the cache directory will contain the code of the generated module, and particularly the code of the "autopostActions" class, which you should check in order to understand the way the plugin works.
You should be able to see your posts as a XML feed at http://api.example.com/post/
Service configuration
As for Symfony's admin-generator, the REST generator generates code on-the-fly,
depending on the configuration done in the generator.yml file.
Here is the default content of the generator.yml file:
generator:
class: sfDoctrineRestGenerator
param:
model_class: Post
config:
default:
# fields: # list here the fields.
# created_at: { date_format: 'Y-m-d\TH:i:s', tag_name: 'created' } # for instance
# separator: ',' # separator used for multiple filters
get:
# display: [] # list here fields to render in the response
# embed_relations: [] # list here relations to embed in the response
# global_additional_fields: [] # list here additionnal calculated global fields
# max_items: 0 # uncomment to fix an absolute limit to the number of items in the response
# object_additional_fields: [] # list here additionnal calculated fields
# pagination_enabled: false # set to true to activate the pagination
# pagination_custom_page_size: false # set to true to allow the client to pass a page_size parameter
# pagination_page_size: 100 # the default number of items in a page
# sort_custom: false # set to true to allow the client to pass a sort_by and a sort_order parameter
# sort_default: [] # set to [column, asc|desc] in order to sort on a column
# filters: # list here the filters
# created_at: { date_format: 'd-m-Y', multiple: true } # for instance
The different possible parameters, commented in the previous sample, are
detailed in the following chapters.
model_class
The model_class parameters defines the name of the Doctrine model the REST
module is bound to.
default
The default option contains several general configuration directives:
fields
The fields option contains, for each of the fields of the model, an array of
decoration options that are used during the (de-)serialization. It might be:
date_format: the date format to use when formatting the field. This must be a format acceptable for the date() function,tag_name: the tag name to use for displaying this field. For instance, you might want to associate the title of the post to the key "post_title", and not "title".
separator
The separator to use in url when passing objects primary keys. The genertaed
module allows to require several ressources identified by their ids:
http://api.example.com/post/?id=12,17,19
get
The get option lists several options specific to the "get" operation:
display
The display option contains the list of the fields to output in the XML
feed. For example with the previously defines "Post" model, you can choose to
only display the title and the author's id by changing this parameter:
config:
get:
display: [ title, author_id ]
If this option is left empty, all the fieds of the model will be rendered.
embed_relations
The embed_relations options contains the list of the Doctrine relations to
be embedded. It might be 1-n or n-n relations, which content will be embeded
in each object. Here is a valid configuration for our "Post" model:
config:
get:
embed_relations: [ PostCategory ]
This configuration will produce a feed like:
...
<Post>
<Id>1</Id>
<PostCategoryId>2</PostCategoryId>
<CreatedBy>26</CreatedBy>
<Title>Here the title of my post</Title>
<Summary>Here the summary of my post</Summary>
<Body>Here the body of my post</Body>
<PostCategory>
<Id>2</Id>
<Name>Name of the category</Name>
<Description>Description of the category</Description>
<IsEnabled>1</IsEnabled>
</PostCategory>
</Post>
...
Several things to consider:
- You cannot define the fields to render in the related objects.
- The response contains both the
PostCategoryId field and the PostCategory.Id fields. You can save some bytes by using the display option.
global_additional_fields
In some case, you might want to embed some additionnal fields in he XML
response. For instance, you might want to include the total number of posts,
an average price, etc.
The global_additional_fields is helpful in such a situation. It contains an
array of the fields that you want to add and, for each field, the generator
will create a method dedicated to embed this field. Here is a possible
configuration:
config:
get:
global_additional_fields: [ TotalPosts ]
This will create an empty method, which has to be manually overridden in the
generated module, in order to include the additionnal field of your choice:
public function embedAdditionalTotalPosts($params)
{
$totalObjects = count($this->objects);
$this->objects['NbObjects'] = $totalObjects;
}
max_items
This directive allows to fix an absolute limit to the number of items in the
response. This parameter has the priority over the pagination_page_size
directive, and the possibly user's defined page_size parameter.
There is by default no limit. Setting this key to 0 will disable the limit.
object_additional_fields
The object_additional_fields contains the list of the additionnal fields
that have to be embedded in each item of the response. For instance, if you
want to add a field NbWords, which would give the number of words in the
body of the post, use the following configuration:
config:
get:
object_additional_fields: [ NbWords ]
This will create an empty method, which has to be manually overridden in the
generated module, in order to include the additionnal field of your choice:
public function embedAdditionalNbWords($item, $params)
{
$array = $this->objects[$item];
$array['NbWords'] = str_word_count($array['body']);
$this->objects[$item] = $array;
}
This option is useful for embedding a relation with only a few fields (see
the embed_relations option):
- embed the relation
- use the
object_additional_fields option to unset the non-desired fields.
The embedAdditionalXXX methods will always look like:
public function embedAdditionalXXXX($item, $params)
{
$array = $this->objects[$item];
// here go some manipulation of $array
$this->objects[$item] = $array;
}
pagination_enabled
This option defines whether or not the pagination should be enabled. Defaults
to false. If enabled, the service will allow a parameter "page" to be passed
in the request. The request can then be of the form
http://api.example.org/post/?page=3
pagination_custom_page_size
Set this option to true to allow the client to pass a page_size parameter.
Else, the pagination will have a fixed size. If the pagination_enabled
option is set to false, this option will have no effect.
pagination_page_size
This option defile the default page size of the pagination. If the
pagination_enabled option is set to false, this option will have no effect.
sort_custom
Set this option to true to allow the client to pass a sort_by and a
sort_order parameter in query string. Else, the client will not be able to
sort the results.
sort_default
The sort_default option defines the default sort order. The format of this
option is [column, asc|desc]. For example:
config:
get:
sort_default: [ created_at, desc ]
filters
This option allows to override the default filtering behavior by setting some
options. By default, the plugin allows to filter the results based on the
model's fields. For each field, it is possible to pass a value in query
string, which will be used to select the matching items.
For instance, you might want to get only the posts of a certain category
using a category_id parameter in the request. If you want to allow the client
to request the posts of several categories, you have to explicitely allow it,
as it may create more complex (ie. ressource-consuming and slow) requests. In
that goal, the key multiple has to be set to true for this fieldname:
config:
get:
filters:
category_id: { multiple: true }
For the dates fields, you might want to tell the plugin which date format is
accepted. For example:
config:
get:
filters:
created_at: { date_format: 'd-m-Y' }
Serialization
The response to a get request is formatted as a XML feed. The serializer
generates a valid feed, enclosing the content of a field in CDATA sections if
necessary.
Whishlist
- a JSON serializer. Currently, the plugin only allows to serialize the resultsets as a XML field (see the chapter "Serialization"). Mobile clients, which require the most compact possible streams, would take benefit from a JSON or even a BSON serialization.
- all the possible feedback!
Contribute to the plugin, ask for help
Please ask for help on how to use the plugin on Symfony's users mailing list.
You can also send me a mail directly : xavier@lacot.org.
License and credits
This plugin has been developed by Xavier Lacot and is
licensed under the MIT license.
Changelog
version 0.8 - 2010-05-09
Initial public release. Features REST module generation with validation and a
XML serializer.
Xavier Lacot 