The Basics

Introduction

Laravel JSON:API makes extensive use of Laravel Form Requests to process client requests in accordance with the JSON:API specification.

Our request classes take care of:

• Negotiating content between the client and the server;
• Parsing JSON documents sent by client against the JSON:API specification, rejecting any non-compliant documents with detailed error messages.
• Validating query parameters and JSON resources against your application's specific validation logic.

Each resource can have up to three request classes, which are described in this chapter.

Resource Request

Our resource request classes are named according to the resource type. For example the posts resource will have a PostRequest class. This class is required if you register the store and/or update actions for the posts resource. It is optional for the destroy action.

In other words, the request class is responsible for requests to create, update or delete a specific resource. Our PostRequest:

• authorizes requests to create, update or destroy a posts resource;
• ensures the Content-Type of the request is acceptable;
• parses the JSON content of the request to ensure it complies with the JSON:API specification; and
• validates the JSON content according to your application's validation rules.

To generate a resource request, use the jsonapi:request Artisan command:

php artisan jsonapi:request posts --server=v1

This will generate the following request class: App\JsonApi\V1\Posts\PostRequest

TIP

The --server option is not required if you only have one server.

Resource Query

Our resource query classes are named according to the resource type. For example, the posts resource can have a PostQuery class. This class is used to validate query parameters for whenever a response can have zero-to-one posts resources in it.

This class is optional. If the class does not exist, we use a generic class to validate the query parameters according to the information in the resource type's schema.

WARNING

Making this class optional helps to rapidly prototype API endpoints. However, for production applications we recommend generating the query request class so that the query parameters are further validated against your specific application rules.

Resource query classes:

1. authorize requests to read zero-to-one of the specified resource type;
2. ensure the Accept header of the request is acceptable;
3. validates the query parameters according to your resource type's schema, and your application's validation rules.

To generate a resource query, use the jsonapi:query Artisan command:

php artisan jsonapi:query posts --server=v1

This will generate the following request class: App\JsonApi\V1\Posts\PostQuery

TIP

The --server option is not required if you only have one server.

Resource Collection Query

Our resource collection query classes are like the resource query class, except they are used for requests that will receive a response containing zero-to-many of a resource type.

They are named according to the resource type. For example, the posts resource can have a PostCollectionQuery class.

This class is also optional. If the class does not exist, we use a generic class to validate the query parameters according to the information in the resource type's schema.

WARNING

Making this class optional helps to rapidly prototype API endpoints. However, for production applications we recommend generating the query collection class so that the query parameters are further validated against your specific application rules.

To generate a resource collection query, use the jsonapi:query Artisan command with the --collection flag:

php artisan jsonapi:query posts --collection --server=v1

This will generate the following request class: App\JsonApi\V1\Posts\PostCollectionQuery

TIP

The --server option is not required if you only have one server.

Generator Shorthand

If you want to generate all three request classes at once, use the jsonapi:requests Artisan command:

php artisan jsonapi:requests posts --server=v1

TIP

The --server option is not required if you only have one server.