Download the PHP package bear/resource without Composer

BEAR.Resource

Hypermedia framework for object as a service

BEAR.Resource Is a Hypermedia framework that allows resources to behave as objects. It allows objects to have RESTful web service benefits such as client-server, uniform interface, statelessness, resource expression with mutual connectivity and layered components.

In order to introduce flexibility and longevity to your existing domain model or application data you can introduce an API as the driving force in your develpment by making your application REST-Centric in it's approach.

Resource Object

The resource object is an object that has resource behavior.

• 1 URI Resource is mapped to 1 class, it is retrieved by using a resource client.
• A request is made to a method with named parameters that responds to a uniform resource request.
• Through the request the method changes the resource state and return itself $this.

Instance retrieval

You can retrieve a client instance by using an injector that resolves dependencies.

By either method the resource client that resolves a URI such as app://self/user to the mapped Sandbox\Resource\App\User can be provisioned.

Resource request

Using the URI and a query the resource is requested.

• This request passes 1 to the onGet($id) method in the Sandbox\Resource\App\User class that conforms to PSR0.
• The retrieved resource has 3 properties code, headers and body.

There are two ways to request. One is eager request and the other is lazy reuqust.

Eager Request

An eager request is a way to execute a request immediately. It is the same as normal PHP method execution. There are other different ways of writing with some reasons.

Lazy Request

As known as Lazy Loading, Request to resource until the point at which it is needed. One common use case is that assign to template the resource request object not the instance.

It is callable object, you can invoke with other parameters;

Hypermedia

A resource can contain hyperlinks to other related resources. Hyperlinks are shown by methods marked with #[Link] attribute. (PHP8.x)

or annotated with @Link annotation. (PHP 7.x)

The relation name is set by rel and link URI's are set by href (hyper reference). The URI can assign the current resource value using the URI Template(rfc6570).

Within a link their are several types self, new, crawl which can be used to effectively create a resource graph.

linkSelf

linkSelf retrieves the linked resource.

The result of the app://self/user resource request jumps over the the blog link and retrieves the app://self/blog resource. Just like clicking a link a the webpage it is replaced by the next resource.

linkNew

linkNew adds the linked resource to the response.

In a web page this is like 'opening a page in a new window', while passing the current resource but also retreiving the next.

Crawl

A crawl passes over a list of resources (array) in order retrieving their links, with this you can construct a more complictated resource graph. Just as a crawler crawls a web page, the resource client crawls hyperlinks and creates a resource graph.

Let's think of author, post, meta, tag, tag/name and they are all connected together by a resource graph. Each resource has a hyperlink. In ths resource graph add the name post-tree, on each resource add the hyper-reference href in the @link annotation.

In the author resource there is a hyperlink to the post resource. This is a 1:n relationship.

In the post resource there is a hyperlink to meta and tag resources. This is also a 1:n relationship.

There is a hyperlink in the tag resource with only an ID for the tag/name resource that corresponds to that ID. It is a 1:1 relationship.

Set the crawl name and make the request.

The resource client looks for the crawl name annotated with @link using the rel name connects to the resource and creates a resource graph.

HATEOAS Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State

The resource client next then takes the next behavior as hyperlink and carrying on from that link changes the application state. For example in an order resource by using POST the order is created, from that order state to the payment resource using a PUT method a payment is made.

Order resource

Client code

The payment method is provided by the order resource with the hyperlink. There is no change in client code even though the relationship between the order and payment is changed, You can checkout more on HATEOAS at How to GET a Cup of Coffee.

Bind parameters You can bind method parameters to an “external value”. The external value might be a web context or any other resource state.

Bind parameters

You can bind method parameters to an "external value". The external value might be a web context or any other resource state.

Web context parameter

For instance, Instead you "pull" $_GET or any global the web context values, You can bind PHP super global values to method parameters.

The above example is a case where a key name and the parameter name are the same. You can specify key and param values when they don't match.

Full List

This bind parameter is also very useful for testing.

Resource Parameter

We can bind the status of another resource to a parameter with the @ResourceParam annotation.

In this example, the nickname property of app://self//login is bound to $name.

Resource Representation

Each resource has a renderer for representation. This renderer is a dependency of the resource, so it is injected in using an injector. Apart from JsonModuleyou can also use the HalModule which uses a HAL (Hyper Application Laungage) renderer.

When the resource is output as a string the injected resource renderer is used then displayed as the resource representation.

In this case $user is the renderers internal ResourceObject. This is not a string so is treated as either an array or an object.

Lazy Loading

In a non eager request() not the resource request result but a request object is retrieved. When this is assigned to the template engine at the timing of the output of a resource request {$user} in the template the resource request and resource rendering is executed and is displayed as a string.

Embedding resources

@Embed annotations makes easier to embed external resource to its own. Like <img src="image_url"> or <iframe src="content_url"> in HTML, Embedded resource is specified by src field.

weather resource ie embedded like as headline or sports in this News resource.

HAL (Hypertext Application Language)

HAL Module changes resource representation as HAL.

Embedded resource evaluate when it is present.

Result

A demo application code is available.

Representation

Cast ResourceObject to string to get the resource view.

You can change the view format (media type) by injecting renderer. Following exmaple illustrates how simple json representation renderer "injected" in the constructor. Normally it is injected by dependency injection library.

Transfer

REST stands for representational state "transfer". transfer() method in ResourceObject output resource view to the client.

The above is simple http resoponse transfer example. This would be changed in different enviroment such as "console", "stream" or "socket serevr".

Performance boost

A resource client is serializable. It has huge performance boosts. Recommended in production use.

Annotation / Attribute

BEAR.Resource can be used either with doctrine/annotation in PHP 7/8 or with an Attributes in PHP8. See the annotation code examples in the older README(v1.4).

Installation

A Resource Oriented Framework

BEAR.Sunday is a Resource Oriented Framework. In BEAR.Sunday on top of the web behavior in BEAR.Resource also has the added Google guice style DI/AOP System Ray and is a web application framework.

Please check out BEAR.Sunday web site.

See Also

• BEAR.QueryRepository - Segregates reads and writes into two separate repository.
• Ray.WebParamModule - Binds the value(s) of a web context to method parameter.

Testing BEAR.Resource

Here's how to install BEAR.Resource from source and run the unit tests and demos.