Introduction

In this tutorial, we will be creating a RESTful API using Laravel, a popular PHP web framework. A RESTful API allows for easy communication between client-side applications and servers. Laravel provides a robust set of tools to create and manage APIs quickly and easily.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you should have the following installed:

• Composer
• Laravel

You should also have a basic understanding of PHP and web development.

Steps

1). Create a new Laravel project

laravel new my-api

or

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-api

2). Create a new controller for our API endpoints

php artisan make:controller ApiController

3). Define our API routes inroutes/api.php

useApp\Http\Controllers\ApiController;Route::get('/users',[ApiController::class,'getUsers']);Route::get('/users/{id}',[ApiController::class,'getUserById']);Route::post('/users',[ApiController::class,'createUser']);Route::put('/users/{id}',[ApiController::class,'updateUser']);Route::delete('/users/{id}',[ApiController::class,'deleteUser']);

4). Define our API methods inapp/Http/Controllers/ApiController.php

namespaceApp\Http\Controllers;useIlluminate\Http\Request;useApp\Models\User;classApiControllerextendsController{publicfunctiongetUsers(){returnUser::all();}publicfunctiongetUserById($id){returnUser::find($id);}publicfunctioncreateUser(Request$request){$user=newUser;$user->name=$request->input('name');$user->email=$request->input('email');$user->password=$request->input('password');$user->save();return$user;}publicfunctionupdateUser(Request$request,$id){$user=User::find($id);$user->name=$request->input('name');$user->email=$request->input('email');$user->password=$request->input('password');$user->save();return$user;}publicfunctiondeleteUser($id){$user=User::find($id);$user->delete();returnresponse()->noContent();}}

5). Database configuration in .env file

DB_CONNECTION=mysqlDB_HOST=127.0.0.1DB_PORT=3306DB_DATABASE=your_database_nameDB_USERNAME=your_database_user_nameDB_PASSWORD=your_database_password

6). To create the database, please open the terminal inside the project and run this command.

php artisan migrate

7). Test our API using a tool likePostman
Before testing, you'll need to serve the project.

php artisan serve

Once that's done, you can obtain the project server URL. Append "/api/" to the project link and use the resulting link to run the test.

• GET/users to retrieve all users
• GET/users/{id} to retrieve a specific user
• POST/users to create a new user
• PUT/users/{id} to update an existing user
• DELETE/users/{id} to delete a user

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to create a RESTful API with Laravel. We covered creating a new Laravel project, defining API routes and methods, and testing our API using a tool like Postman. Laravel provides a powerful and intuitive framework for creating and managing APIs, making it an excellent choice for web development projects.

Example project:-
restful_api By J-Sandaruwan

Thank you,
J-Sandaruwan.
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