PHP POST to RESTful API implemented with apache mod_rewrite - php

Question

I created a PHP RESTful API following this example (code at the bottom). From what I understand, the API converts non-existing URI components to GET parameters in the address via the .htaccess file like this:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule api/v1/(.*)$ api/v1/api.php?request=$1 [QSA,NC,L]
</IfModule>
So if I do, e.g.:
http://mysite/api/v1/endpoint1/param1
endpoint1/param1 can be parsed in the API implementation to call a PHP function endpoint1(param1).
Now my issue is, param1 is really long, and I want use AJAX to POST param1, but the POST doesn't go through
For example, for the RESTful API:
http://mysite/api/v1/endpoint1
I POSTed data using AJAX as follows:
$.post('http://mysite/api/v1/endpoint1/',data,callback,'json');
In API.class.php, $_SERVER['REQEUEST_METHOD'] is 'POST', but $_POST is empty array.
My questions are:
What is actually happening when I POST to a virtual URL to be handled by mod_rewrite. Is the end result a GET request by mode_rewrite or a POST request by my AJAX call?
How can I modify the code to get the POSTed data through? (Is it possible to ask mod_rewrite to use the POST method instead?)
I am confused here, any pointers are appreciated.
The interface for the relevant REST api is (API.class.php, please see the example for complete code):
<?php
abstract class API
{
protected $method = '';
protected $endpoint = '';
protected $args = Array();
protected $file = Null;
public function __construct($request) {
header("Access-Control-Allow-Orgin: *");
header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: *");
header("Content-Type: application/json");
$this->args = explode('/', rtrim($request, '/'));
$this->endpoint = array_shift($this->args);
$this->method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'];
if ($this->method == 'POST' && array_key_exists('HTTP_X_HTTP_METHOD', $_SERVER)) {
if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_HTTP_METHOD'] == 'DELETE') {
$this->method = 'DELETE';
} else if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_HTTP_METHOD'] == 'PUT') {
$this->method = 'PUT';
} else {
throw new Exception("Unexpected Header");
}
}
switch($this->method) {
case 'DELETE':
case 'POST':
$this->request = $this->_cleanInputs($_POST);
$this->args[] = ???; //Problem line: how do I add post to the args
break;
case 'GET':
$this->request = $this->_cleanInputs($_GET);
break;
case 'PUT':
$this->request = $this->_cleanInputs($_GET);
$this->file = file_get_contents("php://input");
break;
default:
$this->_response('Invalid Method', 405);
break;
}
}
public function processAPI() {
if ((int)method_exists($this, $this->endpoint) > 0) {
return $this->_response($this->{$this->endpoint}($this->args));
}
return $this->_response("No Endpoint: $this->endpoint", 404);
}
private function _response($data, $status = 200) {
header("HTTP/1.1 " . $status . " " . $this->_requestStatus($status));
return json_encode($data);
}
private function _cleanInputs($data) {
$clean_input = Array();
if (is_array($data)) {
foreach ($data as $k => $v) {
$clean_input[$k] = $this->_cleanInputs($v);
}
} else {
$clean_input = trim(strip_tags($data));
}
return $clean_input;
}
private function _requestStatus($code) {
$status = array(
200 => 'OK',
404 => 'Not Found',
405 => 'Method Not Allowed',
500 => 'Internal Server Error',
);
return ($status[$code])?$status[$code]:$status[500];
}
}
?>

Answer 1

I believe this is the issue you are running into:
Is it possible to redirect post data?
You should change this line in your .htaccess file from:
RewriteRule api/v1/(.*)$ api/v1/api.php?request=$1 [QSA,NC,L]
to:
RewriteRule api/v1/(.*)$ api/v1/api.php?request=$1 [QSA,NC,P]