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Joomla REST API - Introduction
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Introduction

What is com_api?

com_api is a quick and easy way to add REST APIs to Joomla. Extendible via plugins, you can easily add support for more Joomla extensions. To get started, download the component and install the API plugins you need. Enable the plugins and you are ready to fetch your content via APIs.

To add additional resources to the API, plugins need to be created. Each plugin can provide multiple API resources. Plugins are a convenient way to group several resources. Eg: A single plugin could be created for an 'e-commerce' component with separate resources for products, cart, checkout, orders etc.

com_api terminology (plugin terms)

app

  • An app is essentially a Joomla plugin. However, the plugin itself does nothing more than load the resources it contains.
  • So the app is mainly used to package the API plugin and to enable adding any API specific parameters.
  • Each app will have one or more resources.

resource

  • Resources are files that have code to accept input and set the API output. You will usually have multiple resources in an app.
  • A common use case is for an extension like Easysocial or Jomsocial to have a single app. The app contains resources for various objects like groups, events, photos, newsfeed etc.
  • The resource will contain the methods get() post() delete() to perform CRUD operations on that type of object.

key / token

  • The key is used to access authenticated resources.
  • The admin section allows you to create keys.
  • It's also possible to use the /api/user/login API to login using username and password and get a token in response.

Last update: June 3, 2020