API Generator for CodeIgniter (APIGen)

About
=====

This project provides a CodeIgniter library for creating a dynamic, HTTP-based
server API that can easily handle new API revisions and multiple data formats,
including JSON and serialized-PHP.

The core library design centers around simplifying the task of creating and
maintaining multiple API versions, and is meant to be used with URI routes
similar to the following examples:

  http://your.domain/api/v1/json/module/method

  http://your.domain/api/php/v5/example/action


Usage
=====

You will need to create a controller in your CI project, such as "api.php" and
then route your preferred URI patterns to the controller so that it can call
the APIGen library with the correct arguments.

First load the APIGen library, passing the "api_root" parameter to tell the
library where it can find your actual API controllers:

  $this->load->library("auto_api", array("api_root" => "/path/to/api/"));

The simplest way to generate the URI routing would be to define a single method
on your controller, and define routes in your configuration to generate the
function arguments, such as:

  controllers/api.php:

    function index($version, $format, $module=NULL, $method=NULL) {...}

  config/routes.php:

    $route['api/v(:num)/(:any)/(:any)/(:any)'] = "api/index/$1/$2/$3/$4";
    $route['api/v(:num)/(:any)/(:any)'] = "api/index/$1/$2/$3";
    $route['api/v(:num)/(:any)'] = "api/index/$1/$2";

Once your controller has the four arguments, it can dispatch the API call to
the APIGen library with a single call:

  $this->auto_api->dispatch($format, $version, $module, $method);

Now you need to create your API controllers in the "api_root" you passed when
loading APIGen.  The controllers must be named and stored in a hierarchy with
the API versions as top-level directories with your controllers ("modules").
To create a module "foo", you would create the following file:

  /path/to/api/v1/foo.php:

    <?php
    class Api_foo extends Controller {
      public function bar() {
        return array("string", TRUE, $this);
      }
    }

Note that the class name is actually "Api_foo" to avoid collisions with other
classes or controllers in your application.  The "bar" method would then be
accessed with the following URI:

  http://your.domain/api/v1/foo/bar

To add a new version of the API, you can simply copy the /path/to/api/1
directory to /path/to/api/2 and start modifying the version 2 controllers, and
then access the new "bar" method via:

  http://your.domain/api/v2/foo/bar


Limitations
===========

Currently, the library is designed around the concept of having a single set of
unnested API modules, each with a set of methods, that make up the API urls.
There is currently no way to use API hierarchies deeper than the API version.


Bug Reports
===========

If you find any problems with this project, please do not hesitate to visit my
bugtracker at http://leetcode.net/mantis/ and submit a report.