I have a very basic RESTful api running on my localhost, and it looks something like this:
http://prntscr.com/nd8kpn
or in text:
{"course_id":"1",
"course_creator_id":"1",
"course_name":"Chanel Introduction",
"course_description":"In this course i will discuss info about myself and what you will be learning on my Chanel.",
"course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/0.jpg",
"date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"
}
{"course_id":"2",
"course_creator_id":"1",
"course_name":"Getting started with Web Develop",
"course_description":"In this course, you will learn the basic concepts of Web Development. ",
"course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/1.jpg",
"date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"
}
{"course_id":"3",
"course_creator_id":"1",
"course_name":"HTML and CSS Introduction",
"course_description":"In this course, I will go in depth on HTML, CSS and front end development of basic static webpages.",
"course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/2.jpg",
"date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"
}
{"course_id":"4","course_creator_id":"1","course_name":"JavaScript and React Basics.","course_description":"In this course, we will dive deep into JavaScript and briefly go over the basics of React","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/3.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"5","course_creator_id":"1","course_name":"Building REST apis with Node and Express","course_description":"In this course, we will go in depth on REST apis and build one in the second half of the course.","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/4.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"6","course_creator_id":"1","course_name":"Building an e-books website from scratch","course_description":"In this course we will build an e-books website and combine everything from the previus 5 tutorials.","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/5.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"7","course_creator_id":"3","course_name":"What is Game Development","course_description":"In-depth look on game development (theory only, no code).","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/6.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"8","course_creator_id":"3","course_name":"C++ For Game Development","course_description":"In this massive course, i will teach you everything about C++ and touch on concepts for game development in C++.","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/7.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"9","course_creator_id":"3","course_name":"Introduction to Unreal Engine 4 ","course_description":"Here we will combine what you learnt in the previus course with Unreal Engine4 and start developing small games","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/8.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
{"course_id":"10","course_creator_id":"3","course_name":"Making a turn based RPG with UE4 and C++","course_description":"In this tutorial, we will combined the previus 2 courses and make a turn based RPG from scratch","course_thumbnail":"\/public\/course_images\/9.jpg","date_added":"2019-04-17 15:25:39"}
My code is as follows:
include('../connect.php');
$stmt = $db->query('SELECT * FROM courses');
$result = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_OBJ);
foreach($result as $row){
if(isset($_GET['course_id'])){
if($row->course_id == $_GET['course_id']){
echo json_encode($row);
}
} else if (isset($_GET['creator_id'])){
if($row->course_creator_id == $_GET['creator_id']){
echo json_encode($row);
}
} else {
echo json_encode($row);
}
}
As i said, very simple. Im using it as a testing api rather then as a production one.
My question is, why are most REST api's so pretty like the facebook graph thing but my rest APIs always have an ugly format? How do i make my REST api pretty? :D
First of all you need to create a valid json output then you need to declare your output is a json like followings;
header('Content-Type: application/json');
include('../connect.php');
$stmt = $db->query('SELECT * FROM courses');
$result = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_OBJ);
$rows = [];
foreach($result as $row){
if(isset($_GET['course_id'])){
if($row->course_id == $_GET['course_id']){
$rows[] = $row;
}
} else if (isset($_GET['creator_id'])){
if($row->course_creator_id == $_GET['creator_id']){
$rows[] = $row;
}
} else {
$rows[] = $row;
}
}
echo json_encode($rows, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
JSON_PRETTY_PRINT is responsible for printing the data in rows and not in a single line
Related
The issue is this:
I have a web application that runs on a PHP server. I'd like to build a REST api for it.
I did some research and I figured out that REST api uses HTTP methods (GET, POST...) for certain URI's with an authentication key (not necessarily) and the information is presented back as a HTTP response with the info as XML or JSON (I'd rather JSON).
My question is:
How do I, as the developer of the app, build those URI's? Do I need to write a PHP code at that URI?
How do I build the JSON objects to return as a response?
Here is a very simply example in simple php.
There are 2 files client.php & api.php. I put both files on the same url : http://localhost:8888/, so you will have to change the link to your own url. (the file can be on two different servers).
This is just an example, it's very quick and dirty, plus it has been a long time since I've done php. But this is the idea of an api.
client.php
<?php
/*** this is the client ***/
if (isset($_GET["action"]) && isset($_GET["id"]) && $_GET["action"] == "get_user") // if the get parameter action is get_user and if the id is set, call the api to get the user information
{
$user_info = file_get_contents('http://localhost:8888/api.php?action=get_user&id=' . $_GET["id"]);
$user_info = json_decode($user_info, true);
// THAT IS VERY QUICK AND DIRTY !!!!!
?>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Name: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["last_name"] ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>First Name: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["first_name"] ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Age: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["age"] ?></td>
</tr>
</table>
Return to the user list
<?php
}
else // else take the user list
{
$user_list = file_get_contents('http://localhost:8888/api.php?action=get_user_list');
$user_list = json_decode($user_list, true);
// THAT IS VERY QUICK AND DIRTY !!!!!
?>
<ul>
<?php foreach ($user_list as $user): ?>
<li>
<a href=<?php echo "http://localhost:8888/client.php?action=get_user&id=" . $user["id"] ?> alt=<?php echo "user_" . $user_["id"] ?>><?php echo $user["name"] ?></a>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php
}
?>
api.php
<?php
// This is the API to possibility show the user list, and show a specific user by action.
function get_user_by_id($id)
{
$user_info = array();
// make a call in db.
switch ($id){
case 1:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Marc", "last_name" => "Simon", "age" => 21); // let's say first_name, last_name, age
break;
case 2:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Frederic", "last_name" => "Zannetie", "age" => 24);
break;
case 3:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Laure", "last_name" => "Carbonnel", "age" => 45);
break;
}
return $user_info;
}
function get_user_list()
{
$user_list = array(array("id" => 1, "name" => "Simon"), array("id" => 2, "name" => "Zannetie"), array("id" => 3, "name" => "Carbonnel")); // call in db, here I make a list of 3 users.
return $user_list;
}
$possible_url = array("get_user_list", "get_user");
$value = "An error has occurred";
if (isset($_GET["action"]) && in_array($_GET["action"], $possible_url))
{
switch ($_GET["action"])
{
case "get_user_list":
$value = get_user_list();
break;
case "get_user":
if (isset($_GET["id"]))
$value = get_user_by_id($_GET["id"]);
else
$value = "Missing argument";
break;
}
}
exit(json_encode($value));
?>
I didn't make any call to the database for this example, but normally that is what you should do. You should also replace the "file_get_contents" function by "curl".
In 2013, you should use something like Silex or Slim
Silex example:
require_once __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';
$app = new Silex\Application();
$app->get('/hello/{name}', function($name) use($app) {
return 'Hello '.$app->escape($name);
});
$app->run();
Slim example:
$app = new \Slim\Slim();
$app->get('/hello/:name', function ($name) {
echo "Hello, $name";
});
$app->run();
That is pretty much the same as created a normal website.
Normal pattern for a php website is:
The user enter a url
The server get the url, parse it and execute a action
In this action, you get/generate every information you need for the page
You create the html/php page with the info from the action
The server generate a fully html page and send it back to the user
With a api, you just add a new step between 3 and 4. After 3, create a array with all information you need. Encode this array in json and exit or return this value.
$info = array("info_1" => 1; "info_2" => "info_2" ... "info_n" => array(1,2,3));
exit(json_encode($info));
That all for the api.
For the client side, you can call the api by the url. If the api work only with get call, I think it's possible to do a simply (To check, I normally use curl).
$info = file_get_contents(url);
$info = json_decode($info);
But it's more common to use the curl library to perform get and post call.
You can ask me if you need help with curl.
Once the get the info from the api, you can do the 4 & 5 steps.
Look the php doc for json function and file_get_contents.
curl : http://fr.php.net/manual/fr/ref.curl.php
EDIT
No, wait, I don't get it. "php API page" what do you mean by that ?
The api is only the creation/recuperation of your project. You NEVER send directly the html result (if you're making a website) throw a api. You call the api with the url, the api return information, you use this information to create the final result.
ex: you want to write a html page who say hello xxx. But to get the name of the user, you have to get the info from the api.
So let's say your api have a function who have user_id as argument and return the name of this user (let's say getUserNameById(user_id)), and you call this function only on a url like your/api/ulr/getUser/id.
Function getUserNameById(user_id)
{
$userName = // call in db to get the user
exit(json_encode($userName)); // maybe return work as well.
}
From the client side you do
$username = file_get_contents(your/api/url/getUser/15); // You should normally use curl, but it simpler for the example
// So this function to this specifique url will call the api, and trigger the getUserNameById(user_id), whom give you the user name.
<html>
<body>
<p>hello <?php echo $username ?> </p>
</body>
</html>
So the client never access directly the databases, that the api's role.
Is that clearer ?
(1) How do I ... build those URI's? Do I need to write a PHP code at that URI?
There is no standard for how an API URI scheme should be set up, but it's common to have slash-separated values. For this you can use...
$apiArgArray = explode("/", substr(#$_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1));
...to get an array of slash-separated values in the URI after the file name.
Example: Assuming you have an API file api.php in your application somewhere and you do a request for api.php/members/3, then $apiArgArray will be an array containing ['members', '3']. You can then use those values to query your database or do other processing.
(2) How do I build the JSON objects to return as a response?
You can take any PHP object and turn it into JSON with json_encode. You'll also want to set the appropriate header.
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$myObject = (object) array( 'property' => 'value' ); // example
echo json_encode($myObject); // outputs JSON text
All this is good for an API that returns JSON, but the next question you should ask is:
(3) How do I make my API RESTful?
For that we'll use $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] to get the method being used, and then do different things based on that. So the final result is something like...
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$apiArgArray = explode("/", substr(#$_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1));
$returnObject = (object) array();
/* Based on the method, use the arguments to figure out
whether you're working with an individual or a collection,
then do your processing, and ultimately set $returnObject */
switch ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']) {
case 'GET':
// List entire collection or retrieve individual member
break;
case 'PUT':
// Replace entire collection or member
break;
case 'POST':
// Create new member
break;
case 'DELETE':
// Delete collection or member
break;
}
echo json_encode($returnObject);
Sources: https://stackoverflow.com/a/897311/1766230 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer#Applied_to_web_services
Another framework which has not been mentioned so far is Laravel. It's great for building PHP apps in general but thanks to the great router it's really comfortable and simple to build rich APIs. It might not be that slim as Slim or Sliex but it gives you a solid structure.
See Aaron Kuzemchak - Simple API Development With Laravel on YouTube and
Laravel 4: A Start at a RESTful API on NetTuts+
I know that this question is accepted and has a bit of age but this might be helpful for some people who still find it relevant. Although the outcome is not a full RESTful API the API Builder mini lib for PHP allows you to easily transform MySQL databases into web accessible JSON APIs.
As simon marc said, the process is much the same as it is for you or I browsing a website. If you are comfortable with using the Zend framework, there are some easy to follow tutorials to that make life quite easy to set things up. The hardest part of building a restful api is the design of the it, and making it truly restful, think CRUD in database terms.
It could be that you really want an xmlrpc interface or something else similar. What do you want this interface to allow you to do?
--EDIT
Here is where I got started with restful api and Zend Framework.
Zend Framework Example
In short don't use Zend rest server, it's obsolete.
I have been trying to get a single value on google spreadsheet for my school project .Since I am still new in PHP script ,I follow the google guideline which is this link google guidelines .But I cannot find any documentation about getting value on the sheet based on my input .
I plan to use another program to input a single string value and will check whether the value exist on the spreadsheet or not . If yes it will be shown .
I am still quite new in programming with PHP so a code example/simple explanation will be nice . Thanks
You should try the quickstart for PHP. It is correct to read about the document to be familiar with the terms, request and response forms and all the basic stuff about the API. In the quickstart, you will be learning the code implementation of the API starting with the basic function like, listing (getValues()).
Here is a snippet from the quickstart :
// Prints the names and majors of students in a sample spreadsheet:
// https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BxiMVs0XRA5nFMdKvBdBZjgmUUqptlbs74OgvE2upms/edit
$spreadsheetId = '1BxiMVs0XRA5nFMdKvBdBZjgmUUqptlbs74OgvE2upms';
$range = 'Class Data!A2:E';
$response = $service->spreadsheets_values->get($spreadsheetId, $range);
$values = $response->getValues();
if (count($values) == 0) {
print "No data found.\n";
} else {
print "Name, Major:\n";
foreach ($values as $row) {
// Print columns A and E, which correspond to indices 0 and 4.
printf("%s, %s\n", $row[0], $row[4]);
}
}
Hope this helps.
I'm using the Google AdWords PHP API to access statistics from our account. However, I'm getting some really strange read outs from the statistics through the api. I'm trying to access the stats for individuals Ads or Adgroups. The statistics returned, however, are way off what they are in the client center. The code I'm using:
$user->SetClientCustomerId($clientId);
$adService = $user->GetService("AdGroupAdService", ADWORDS_VERSION);
$selector = new Selector();
$selector->fields = array("Id", "Name", "Clicks", "Impressions", "Cost");
$selector->predicates[] = new Predicate("AdGroupId", "IN", array($adGroupId));
$selector->dateRange = $dateRange;
$selector->paging = new Paging(0, AdWordsConstants::RECOMMENDED_PAGE_SIZE);
do {
// Make the get request.
$page = $adService->get($selector);
if (isset($page->entries)) {
foreach ($page->entries as $ad) {
$newLineObject->adName = $ad->name;
$newLineObject->clicks = $ad->ad->AdStats->clicks;
$newLineObject->impressions = $ad->adStats->impressions;
$newLineObject->cost = $ad->ad->AdStats->cost->microAmount/ AdWordsConstants::MICROS_PER_DOLLAR;
}
}
else {
print "No matching ads were found.\n";
}
$selector->paging->startIndex += AdWordsConstants::RECOMMENDED_PAGE_SIZE;
} while ($page->totalNumEntries > $selector->paging->startIndex);
When I print the results I get numbers that are considerably larger than those displayed in the client center. For example, for one partiuclar Ad the API reported 2.000.000 impressions, while the client center showed 56.000.
What am I doing wrong?
Your code seems correct to me. However, you problem may be that your date range in your code is different to the one you see in your client center. Make sure that you keep the same date range when you cross check.
Having tried using the method detailed above extensively, I have altered my code completely. I now use AdHoc Reporting (described here https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/guides/reporting). This method was suggested to me by an AdWords developer. While this does not literally solve my question (i.e. why does the above code return incorrect statistics), it does provide an easy and clean way to obtain the data correctly.
Using a PHP implementation of the java android market API I'm attempting to display the top 10 most popular applications.
Using the code below:
<?php
include("local.php");
include("../proto/protocolbuffers.inc.php");
include("../proto/market.proto.php");
include("../Market/MarketSession.php");
$session = new MarketSession();
$session->login(GOOGLE_EMAIL, GOOGLE_PASSWD);
$session->setAndroidId(ANDROID_DEVICEID);
$ar = new AppsRequest();
$ar->setOrderType(AppsRequest_OrderType::POPULAR);
$ar->setStartIndex(0);
$ar->setEntriesCount(10);
//free or paid
//$ar->setViewType(AppsRequest_ViewType::ALL);
//arcade etc
//$ar->setCategoryId("ARCADE");
$reqGroup = new Request_RequestGroup();
$reqGroup->setAppsRequest($ar);
$response = $session->execute($reqGroup);
$groups = $response->getResponsegroupArray();
foreach ($groups as $rg) {
$appsResponse = $rg->getAppsResponse();
$apps = $appsResponse->getAppArray();
foreach ($apps as $app) {
echo $app->getTitle()."<br/>";
}
}
But the results I'm getting aren't exactly what I expected:
Brightest Flashlight Freeâ„¢
LauncherPro
Seesmic (Facebook, Twitter)
Android Assistant(18 features)
Pho.to Lab
US Yellow Pages
Sudoku Free
Color Flashlight
ElectroDroid
Scanner Radio
I expected the list of top 10 apps to contain Gmail, Facebook, Youtube etc
Anyone know why this could be happening? Any alternative APIs we could use? Any other way we can acheive this?
The issue is this:
I have a web application that runs on a PHP server. I'd like to build a REST api for it.
I did some research and I figured out that REST api uses HTTP methods (GET, POST...) for certain URI's with an authentication key (not necessarily) and the information is presented back as a HTTP response with the info as XML or JSON (I'd rather JSON).
My question is:
How do I, as the developer of the app, build those URI's? Do I need to write a PHP code at that URI?
How do I build the JSON objects to return as a response?
Here is a very simply example in simple php.
There are 2 files client.php & api.php. I put both files on the same url : http://localhost:8888/, so you will have to change the link to your own url. (the file can be on two different servers).
This is just an example, it's very quick and dirty, plus it has been a long time since I've done php. But this is the idea of an api.
client.php
<?php
/*** this is the client ***/
if (isset($_GET["action"]) && isset($_GET["id"]) && $_GET["action"] == "get_user") // if the get parameter action is get_user and if the id is set, call the api to get the user information
{
$user_info = file_get_contents('http://localhost:8888/api.php?action=get_user&id=' . $_GET["id"]);
$user_info = json_decode($user_info, true);
// THAT IS VERY QUICK AND DIRTY !!!!!
?>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Name: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["last_name"] ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>First Name: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["first_name"] ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Age: </td><td> <?php echo $user_info["age"] ?></td>
</tr>
</table>
Return to the user list
<?php
}
else // else take the user list
{
$user_list = file_get_contents('http://localhost:8888/api.php?action=get_user_list');
$user_list = json_decode($user_list, true);
// THAT IS VERY QUICK AND DIRTY !!!!!
?>
<ul>
<?php foreach ($user_list as $user): ?>
<li>
<a href=<?php echo "http://localhost:8888/client.php?action=get_user&id=" . $user["id"] ?> alt=<?php echo "user_" . $user_["id"] ?>><?php echo $user["name"] ?></a>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php
}
?>
api.php
<?php
// This is the API to possibility show the user list, and show a specific user by action.
function get_user_by_id($id)
{
$user_info = array();
// make a call in db.
switch ($id){
case 1:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Marc", "last_name" => "Simon", "age" => 21); // let's say first_name, last_name, age
break;
case 2:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Frederic", "last_name" => "Zannetie", "age" => 24);
break;
case 3:
$user_info = array("first_name" => "Laure", "last_name" => "Carbonnel", "age" => 45);
break;
}
return $user_info;
}
function get_user_list()
{
$user_list = array(array("id" => 1, "name" => "Simon"), array("id" => 2, "name" => "Zannetie"), array("id" => 3, "name" => "Carbonnel")); // call in db, here I make a list of 3 users.
return $user_list;
}
$possible_url = array("get_user_list", "get_user");
$value = "An error has occurred";
if (isset($_GET["action"]) && in_array($_GET["action"], $possible_url))
{
switch ($_GET["action"])
{
case "get_user_list":
$value = get_user_list();
break;
case "get_user":
if (isset($_GET["id"]))
$value = get_user_by_id($_GET["id"]);
else
$value = "Missing argument";
break;
}
}
exit(json_encode($value));
?>
I didn't make any call to the database for this example, but normally that is what you should do. You should also replace the "file_get_contents" function by "curl".
In 2013, you should use something like Silex or Slim
Silex example:
require_once __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';
$app = new Silex\Application();
$app->get('/hello/{name}', function($name) use($app) {
return 'Hello '.$app->escape($name);
});
$app->run();
Slim example:
$app = new \Slim\Slim();
$app->get('/hello/:name', function ($name) {
echo "Hello, $name";
});
$app->run();
That is pretty much the same as created a normal website.
Normal pattern for a php website is:
The user enter a url
The server get the url, parse it and execute a action
In this action, you get/generate every information you need for the page
You create the html/php page with the info from the action
The server generate a fully html page and send it back to the user
With a api, you just add a new step between 3 and 4. After 3, create a array with all information you need. Encode this array in json and exit or return this value.
$info = array("info_1" => 1; "info_2" => "info_2" ... "info_n" => array(1,2,3));
exit(json_encode($info));
That all for the api.
For the client side, you can call the api by the url. If the api work only with get call, I think it's possible to do a simply (To check, I normally use curl).
$info = file_get_contents(url);
$info = json_decode($info);
But it's more common to use the curl library to perform get and post call.
You can ask me if you need help with curl.
Once the get the info from the api, you can do the 4 & 5 steps.
Look the php doc for json function and file_get_contents.
curl : http://fr.php.net/manual/fr/ref.curl.php
EDIT
No, wait, I don't get it. "php API page" what do you mean by that ?
The api is only the creation/recuperation of your project. You NEVER send directly the html result (if you're making a website) throw a api. You call the api with the url, the api return information, you use this information to create the final result.
ex: you want to write a html page who say hello xxx. But to get the name of the user, you have to get the info from the api.
So let's say your api have a function who have user_id as argument and return the name of this user (let's say getUserNameById(user_id)), and you call this function only on a url like your/api/ulr/getUser/id.
Function getUserNameById(user_id)
{
$userName = // call in db to get the user
exit(json_encode($userName)); // maybe return work as well.
}
From the client side you do
$username = file_get_contents(your/api/url/getUser/15); // You should normally use curl, but it simpler for the example
// So this function to this specifique url will call the api, and trigger the getUserNameById(user_id), whom give you the user name.
<html>
<body>
<p>hello <?php echo $username ?> </p>
</body>
</html>
So the client never access directly the databases, that the api's role.
Is that clearer ?
(1) How do I ... build those URI's? Do I need to write a PHP code at that URI?
There is no standard for how an API URI scheme should be set up, but it's common to have slash-separated values. For this you can use...
$apiArgArray = explode("/", substr(#$_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1));
...to get an array of slash-separated values in the URI after the file name.
Example: Assuming you have an API file api.php in your application somewhere and you do a request for api.php/members/3, then $apiArgArray will be an array containing ['members', '3']. You can then use those values to query your database or do other processing.
(2) How do I build the JSON objects to return as a response?
You can take any PHP object and turn it into JSON with json_encode. You'll also want to set the appropriate header.
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$myObject = (object) array( 'property' => 'value' ); // example
echo json_encode($myObject); // outputs JSON text
All this is good for an API that returns JSON, but the next question you should ask is:
(3) How do I make my API RESTful?
For that we'll use $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] to get the method being used, and then do different things based on that. So the final result is something like...
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$apiArgArray = explode("/", substr(#$_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1));
$returnObject = (object) array();
/* Based on the method, use the arguments to figure out
whether you're working with an individual or a collection,
then do your processing, and ultimately set $returnObject */
switch ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']) {
case 'GET':
// List entire collection or retrieve individual member
break;
case 'PUT':
// Replace entire collection or member
break;
case 'POST':
// Create new member
break;
case 'DELETE':
// Delete collection or member
break;
}
echo json_encode($returnObject);
Sources: https://stackoverflow.com/a/897311/1766230 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer#Applied_to_web_services
Another framework which has not been mentioned so far is Laravel. It's great for building PHP apps in general but thanks to the great router it's really comfortable and simple to build rich APIs. It might not be that slim as Slim or Sliex but it gives you a solid structure.
See Aaron Kuzemchak - Simple API Development With Laravel on YouTube and
Laravel 4: A Start at a RESTful API on NetTuts+
I know that this question is accepted and has a bit of age but this might be helpful for some people who still find it relevant. Although the outcome is not a full RESTful API the API Builder mini lib for PHP allows you to easily transform MySQL databases into web accessible JSON APIs.
As simon marc said, the process is much the same as it is for you or I browsing a website. If you are comfortable with using the Zend framework, there are some easy to follow tutorials to that make life quite easy to set things up. The hardest part of building a restful api is the design of the it, and making it truly restful, think CRUD in database terms.
It could be that you really want an xmlrpc interface or something else similar. What do you want this interface to allow you to do?
--EDIT
Here is where I got started with restful api and Zend Framework.
Zend Framework Example
In short don't use Zend rest server, it's obsolete.