How to make simple REST API in Codeignter.

How to make simple REST API in Codeignter.

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a simple REST API in CodeIgniter:

1. Install CodeIgniter: You can download the latest version of CodeIgniter from the official website and extract it to your local development environment.

2. Enable RESTful API in CodeIgniter: To enable RESTful API in CodeIgniter, you need to enable the REST module in the **application/config/config.php** file. You can do this by setting 

$config['enable_hooks'] = TRUE; 

and 

$config['rest_enable_keys'] = TRUE;.

Create a Controller: Next, create a controller in the **application/controllers** directory. This controller will handle the incoming API requests and return the appropriate response.

Define the RESTful API Routes: In the controller, you need to define the routes for your RESTful API. You can do this using the **$route** array in the **application/config/routes.php** file. For example, if you want to create a route for the **/users** endpoint, you can add the following code:

Create the API Methods: In the controller, you need to create the methods for each of the API endpoints. For example, for the **/users** endpoint, you can create the following methods:

$route['api/users']['GET'] = 'api/users/index';
$route['api/users/(:num)']['GET'] = 'api/users/view/$1';
$route['api/users']['POST'] = 'api/users/create';
$route['api/users/(:num)']['PUT'] = 'api/users/update/$1';
$route['api/users/(:num)']['DELETE'] = 'api/users/delete/$1';

Create the API Methods: In the controller, you need to create the methods for each of the API endpoints. For example, for the **/users** endpoint, you can create the following methods:

public function index()
{
  // code to fetch all users
}

public function view($id)
{
  // code to fetch a single user
}

public function create()
{
  // code to create a new user
}

public function update($id)
{
  // code to update an existing user
}

public function delete($id)
{
  // code to delete a user
}

Test the API: Finally, test your API by making requests to the endpoint using a REST client, such as Postman or Insomnia. You can test the different HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to ensure that the API is working as expected.

This is a simple example to get started with a RESTful API in CodeIgniter. You can expand this example to include more endpoints, authentication, and validation as needed.