Build a Robust RESTful API with PHP 8, from Scratch!

Install composer and set up a php 8 restful api by adding the firebase php jwt library with composer require firebase php jwt, using terminal commands and composer init.

Implement a user class with constructor property promotion in PHP 8.1, defining private and public readonly properties, set the minimum PHP 8.1 version in composer.json, and use config platform.

Install and use an API client like Insomnia or Postman to send requests, set payloads and headers, including JWT authorization. Create requests and collections to test your local REST API.

Explore how restful apis use http methods such as get, post, put, delete, and patch to perform crud operations with noun-based endpoints, aided by insomnia and postman.

Learn to set up RedBeanPHP ORM with MySQL on a development machine: install RedBeanPHP, configure dotenv, create config and a database connection, and prepare for robust API error handling.

Install and configure the Whoops package to handle exceptions and convert them into json format using the json response handler, enabling consistent json formatted error responses in production.

Set up an Apache and PHP 8 local server, enable the Apache rewrite module for friendly URLs, and configure the document root to serve PHP pages (verified with phpinfo).

Explore how RedBeanPHP ORM drives a clean, three-tier architecture for a PHP 8 REST API, auto-creating the users table and guiding entity and service design.

Implement environment-aware safeguards with a PHP enum to freeze RedBeanPHP in production, use tryFrom for safe env values, and apply null-safe calls.

Retrieve all users from the database with RedBeanPHP by returning a modified user list via array_map, removing IDs with a lambda, and presenting a clean array for API output.

Ensure a user has a unique email, check for duplicates, and securely save the password by hashing with PHP's password_hash, using bound parameters and email exists error handling.

Store the user JWT token and last session time in the database, refactor the secret key naming, and implement a set token function to update the login token.

Apply restful best practices in PHP 8 by using put for updates and returning the created user UUID. Use 404 not found for missing users and 400 for invalid input.

Continue building confidence in your PHP API by adding item entity unit tests, refactoring to expected sequential id, and asserting item properties (id, uuid, name, price, available) with PHPUnit.

Learn how to include all project files automatically with composer autoload, configure composer.json, manage namespaces, and load environment variables for a PHP 8 restful API.