How to 

Turn on API for an Entity 

By default, API for entities is disabled. To turn on API for an entity, add the entity to Resources/config/oro/api.yml in your bundle:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity: ~

Turn on API for an Entity Disabled in Resources/config/oro/entity.yml 

The exclusions section of the Resources/config/oro/entity.yml configuration file is used to make an entity or a field inaccessible for a user. The entities and fields from this section are inaccessible via the API as well. However, it is possible to override this rule for the API. To do this, use the exclude option in Resources/config/oro/api.yml.

Let us consider the case when you have the following Resources/config/oro/entity.yml:

oro_entity:
    exclusions:
        - { entity: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1 }
        - { entity: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity2, field: field1 }

To override these rules in the API, add the following lines to the Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            exclude: false # override exclude rule from entity.yml
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity2:
            fields:
                field1:
                    exclude: false # override exclude rule from entity.yml

Enable Advanced Operators for String Filter 

By performance reasons the following operators are disabled out of the box:

  • ~ (contains) - uses LIKE %text% to check that a field value contains the text

  • !~ (not_contains) - uses NOT LIKE %text% to check that a field value does not contain the text

  • ^ (starts_with) - uses LIKE text% to check that a field value starts with the text

  • !^ (not_starts_with) - uses NOT LIKE text% to check that a field value does not start with the text

  • $ (ends_with) - uses LIKE %text to check that a field value ends with the text

  • !$ (not_ends_with) - uses NOT LIKE %text to check that a field value does not end with the text

  • N/A (empty) - uses logical OR operator to check that a field value is empty or null or to check that a field value is not empty and not null

To enable these operators, use operators option for filters in Resources/config/oro/api.yml, e.g.:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            filters:
                fields:
                    field1:
                        operators: ['=', '!=', '*', '!*', '~', '!~', '^', '!^', '$', '!$', 'empty']

Enable Case-insensitive String Filter 

Depending on the collation settings of your database the case-insensitive filtering may be already enforced to be used on the database level. For example, if you are using PostgreSQL all collations are case-sensitive by default. But if the collation of your database or a particular field is not case-insensitive and you need to enable the case-insensitive filtering for this field, you can use case_insensitive option for a filter in Resources/config/oro/api.yml, e.g.:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            filters:
                fields:
                    field1:
                        options:
                            case_insensitive: true

Note

Please note that the LOWER function will be used in this case and it can impact performance if there is no proper index.

Also sometimes data in the database are already converted to lowercase or uppercase, in this case you can use value_transformer option to convert the filter value to before it will be passed to the database query, e.g.:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            filters:
                fields:
                    field1:
                        options:
                            value_transformer: strtoupper # convert the filter value to uppercase

Change an ACL Resource for an Action 

By default, the following permissions are used to restrict access to an entity in a scope of the specific action (see the actions topic for more details on each action):

Action

Permission

get

VIEW

get_list

VIEW

delete

DELETE

delete_list

DELETE

create

CREATE and VIEW

update

EDIT and VIEW

get_subresource

VIEW

get_relationship

VIEW

update_relationship

EDIT and VIEW

add_relationship

EDIT and VIEW

delete_relationship

EDIT and VIEW

If you want to change permission or disable access checks for some action, you can use the acl_resource option of the actions configuration section.

For example, to change permissions for the delete action, add the following lines to the Resources/config/oro/api.yml in your bundle:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                delete:
                    acl_resource: access_entity_view

If there is the access_entity_view ACL resource:

access_entity_view:
    type: entity
    class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1
    permission: VIEW

As a result, the VIEW permission will be used instead of the DELETE permission.

Disable Access Checks for an Action 

You can disable access checks for some action by setting null as a value for the acl_resource option in Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                get_list:
                    acl_resource: ~

Disable an Entity Action 

When you add an entity to the API, all the actions will be available by default.

If an action should be inaccessible, disable it in Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                delete:
                    exclude: true

You can use the short syntax:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                delete: false

Change the Maximum Number of Entities that Can Be Deleted by One Request 

By default, the delete_list action can delete not more than 100 entities, see the max_delete_entities option in General Configuration. This limit is set by the SetDeleteLimit processor.

If your want to use another limit, set it using the max_results option in Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                delete_list:
                    max_results: 200

You can remove the limit at all. To do this, set -1 as a value for the max_results option:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity1:
            actions:
                delete_list:
                    max_results: -1

Configure a Nested Object 

Sometimes it is required to group several fields and expose them as a nested object in the API. For example, consider the case when an entity has two fields intervalNumber and intervalUnit but you need to expose them in API as number and unit properties of interval field. To achieve it, use one of the following configurations:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\ReminderBundle\Entity\Reminder:
            fields:
                interval:
                    data_type: nestedObject
                    form_options:
                        data_class: Oro\Bundle\ReminderBundle\Model\ReminderInterval
                        by_reference: false
                    fields:
                        number:
                            property_path: intervalNumber
                        unit:
                            property_path: intervalUnit
                intervalNumber:
                    exclude: true
                intervalUnit:
                    exclude: true

Please note that in this case an entity, in this example Oro\Bundle\ReminderBundle\Entity\Reminder, should have setInterval(ReminderInterval $interval) method. This method is called by create and update actions to set the nested object. If an entity does not have this method, the following alternative configuration with the inherit_data form option can be used:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\ReminderBundle\Entity\Reminder:
            fields:
                interval:
                    data_type: nestedObject
                    form_options:
                        inherit_data: true
                    fields:
                        number:
                            property_path: intervalNumber
                        unit:
                            property_path: intervalUnit
                intervalNumber:
                    exclude: true
                intervalUnit:
                    exclude: true

To make a nested object read-only the mapped form option can be used, for example:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\ReminderBundle\Entity\Reminder:
            fields:
                interval:
                    data_type: nestedObject
                    form_options:
                        inherit_data: true
                        mapped: true
                    fields:
                        number:
                            property_path: intervalNumber
                        unit:
                            property_path: intervalUnit
                intervalNumber:
                    exclude: true
                intervalUnit:
                    exclude: true

Here is an example how the nested objects looks in JSON:API:

{
  "data": {
    "type": "reminders",
    "id": "1",
    "attributes": {
      "interval": {
        "number": 2,
        "unit": "H"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configure a Nested Association 

Sometimes a relationship with a group of entities is implemented as two fields, “entityClass” and “entityId”, rather than a multi-target associations. But in the API these fields should be represented as a regular relationship. To achieve this, a special data type named nestedAssociation was implemented. For example, let us suppose that an entity has two fields sourceEntityClass and sourceEntityId and you need to expose them in API as source relationship. To achieve this, use the following configuration:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\OrderBundle\Entity\Order:
            fields:
                source:
                    data_type: nestedAssociation
                    fields:
                        __class__:
                            property_path: sourceEntityClass
                        id:
                            property_path: sourceEntityId

Here is an example how the nested association looks in JSON:API:

{
    "data": {
        "type": "orders",
        "id": "1",
        "relationships": {
            "source": {
                "type": "contacts",
                "id": 123
            }
        }
    }
}

Note

Please note that fields used in a nested association, in this example sourceEntityClass and sourceEntityId, are automatically excluded from the result and you do not need to mark them with exclude option. Moreover, they will be excluded even if you mark them with exclude: false in a configuration file.

Configure an Extended Many-To-One Association 

For information about this type of associations, see the multi-target associations topic.

Depending on the current entity configuration, each association resource (e.g. attachment) can be assigned to one of the resources (e.g. user, account, contact) that support such associations.

By default, there is no possibility to retrieve targets of such associations. To make targets available for retrieving, enable this in Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\AttachmentBundle\Entity\Attachment:
            fields:
                target:
                    data_type: association:manyToOne

After applying the configuration, the targets relationship becomes available for the get_list, get, create and update actions. Also the targets relationship becomes also available as a subresource and thus, it is possible to perform the get_subresource, get_relationship, update_relationship, add_relationship and delete_relationship actions.

The data_type parameter has format: association:relationType:associationKind, where

  • relationType part should have ‘manyToOne’ value for extended Many-To-One association;

  • associationKind is the optional part that represents the kind of the association.

Configure an Extended Many-To-Many Association 

For information about this type of associations, see the multi-target associations topic.

Depending on the current entity configuration, each association resource (e.g. call) can be assigned to several resources (e.g. user, account, contact) that support such associations.

By default, there is no possibility to retrieve targets of such associations. To make targets available for retrieving, enable this in Resources/config/oro/api.yml, for instance:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\CallBundle\Entity\Call:
            fields:
                targets:
                    data_type: association:manyToMany

After applying the configuration, the targets relationship becomes available in scope of the get_list, get , create and update actions. The targets relationship also becomes available as a subresource and thus, it is possible to perform get_subresource, get_relationship, update_relationship, add_relationship and delete_relationship actions.

The data_type parameter has format: association:relationType:associationKind, where

  • relationType part should have ‘manyToMany’ value for extended Many-To-Many association;

  • associationKind is the optional part that represents the kind of the association.

Configure an Extended Multiple Many-To-One Association 

For information about this type of associations, see the multi-target associations topic.

Depending on the current entity configuration, each association resource (e.g. call) can be assigned to several resources (e.g. user, account, contact) that support such associations. However, in case of multiple many-to-one association, a resource can be associated with only one other resource of each type. For example, a call can be associated only with one user, one account, etc.

By default, there is no possibility to retrieve targets of such associations. To make targets available for retrieving, enable this in Resources/config/oro/api.yml, for instance:

api:
    entities:
        Oro\Bundle\CallBundle\Entity\Call:
            fields:
                targets:
                    data_type: association:multipleManyToOne

After applying the configuration, the targets relationship becomes available in scope of get_list, get, create and update actions. The targets relationship also becomes available as a subresource and thus, it is possible to perform get_subresource, get_relationship, update_relationship, add_relationship and delete_relationship actions.

The data_type parameter has format: association:relationType:associationKind, where

  • relationType part should have ‘multipleManyToOne’ value for extended Multiple Many-To-One association;

  • associationKind is the optional part that represents the kind of the association.

Configure an Unidirectional Association 

To add an ORM association that is the inverse side of an unidirectional association to the API, use a special unidirectionalAssociation data type. Its full definition is unidirectionalAssociation:targetAssociationName, where targetAssociationName is the name of the owning side association. To specify the entity that contains the owning side association, use the target_class option.

To illustrate the configuration of an unidirectional association, consider two entities, Product and Category. The Product entity has the category association that is an unidirectional many-to-one association to the Category entity. To add products to the Category API resource, use the following Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Category:
            fields:
                products:
                    data_type: unidirectionalAssociation:category
                    target_class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Product

Note

Only many-to-one and many-to-many unidirectional associations are supported.

Note

This data type is not supported for models that replace ORM entities.

Add a Custom Controller 

By default, all REST API resources are handled by RestApiController that handles get_list, get, delete, delete_list, create, update, get_subresource, get_relationship, update_relationship, add_relationship and delete_relationship actions.

If this controller cannot handle the implementation of your REST API resources, you can register a custom controller. Please note that this is not recommended and should be used only in very special cases. Having a custom controller implies that many processes should be implemented from scratch, including:

  • extracting and validation of the input data

  • building and formatting the output document

  • error handling

  • loading data from the database

  • saving data to the database

  • implementing relationships with other API resources

  • documenting such API resources

  • implementing OPTIONS HTTP method for such API resources

If you know about these disadvantages and still want to proceed registering a custom controller, perform the following steps:

  1. Create a controller.

  2. Register the created controller using the Resources/config/oro/routing.yml configuration file.

Here is an example of the controller:

namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Controller\Api;

use Nelmio\ApiDocBundle\Annotation\ApiDoc;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;

class MyResourceController extends AbstractController
{
    /**
     * Retrieve a specific record.
     *
     * @param Request $request
     *
     * @ApiDoc(
     *     resource=true,
     *     description="Get a resource",
     *     views={"rest_json_api"},
     *     section="myresources",
     *     requirements={
     *          {
     *              "name"="id",
     *              "dataType"="integer",
     *              "requirement"="\d+",
     *              "description"="The 'id' requirement description."
     *          }
     *     },
     *     filters={
     *          {
     *              "name"="aFilter",
     *              "dataType"="string",
     *              "requirement"=".+",
     *              "description"="The 'aFilter' filter description."
     *          }
     *     },
     *     output={
     *          "class"="Your\Namespace\Class",
     *          "fields"={
     *              {
     *                  "name"="aField",
     *                  "dataType"="string",
     *                  "description"="The 'aField' field description."
     *              }
     *          }
     *     },
     *     statusCodes={
     *          200="Returned when successful",
     *          500="Returned when an unexpected error occurs"
     *     }
     * )
     *
     * @return Response
     */
    public function getAction(Request $request): Response
    {
        // add an implementation here
    }
}

An example of the Resources/config/oro/routing.yml configuration file:

acme_api_get_my_resource:
    path: '%oro_api.rest.prefix%myresources/{id}'
    methods: [GET]
    defaults:
        _controller: AcmeDemoBundle:Api\MyResource:get
    options:
        group: rest_api

For the information on the ApiDoc annotation, see the Symfony documentation. To learn about all possible properties of the fields option, see AbstractFormatter class in NelmioApiDocBundle. Please note that the fields option can be used inside the input and output options.

Note

Please note that the all view name can be used in the ApiDoc annotation to add the API resource into all views.

Use the oro:api:doc:cache:clear command to apply changes in the ApiDoc annotation to API Sandbox.

Add a Custom Route 

As described in Add a Custom Controller, RestApiController handles all registered REST API resources, and in most cases you do not need to change this. But sometimes you need to change the default mapping between URI and an action of this controller for some REST API resources. For example, imagine that URI of the REST API resource for the registered user’s profile is /api/userprofile. If you take a look at routing.yml, you will see that this URI is matched by the /api/{entity} pattern, but the action that handles this pattern works with a list of entities, not with a single entity. The challenge is to map /api/userprofile to the Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Controller\RestApiController::itemAction action that works with a single entity and to remove handling of /api/userprofile/{id}. This can be achieved using own route definition with the override_path option.

Use oro:api:doc:cache:clear command to apply changes in ApiDoc annotation to API Sandbox.

Here is an example of the Resources/config/oro/routing.yml configuration file:

acme_rest_api_user_profile:
    path: '%oro_api.rest.prefix%userprofile'
    controller: Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Controller\RestApiController::itemAction
    defaults:
        entity: userprofile
    options:
        group: rest_api
        override_path: '%oro_api.rest.prefix%userprofile/{id}'

Configure Upsert Operation 

By default, the upsert operation is enabled for API resources based on ORM entities that have no auto-generated identifier or have unique database indexes.

If the upsert operation is enabled for an API resource by default, but you need to disable it, use the “upsert” configuration option in Resources/config/oro/api.yml :

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            upsert: false

or

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            upsert:
                disable: true

If the upsert operation is disabled for an API resource by default, it can be enabled in Resources/config/oro/api.yml by specifying the field(s) that can be used to identify a resource:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            upsert:
                add: [['field1'], ['field2', 'field3']]

If you need to disable identification of a resource by some field(s), you can use “remove” option:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            upsert:
                remove: [['field4'], ['field5', 'field6']]

Also the identification field(s) can be completely replaced:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            upsert:
                replace: [['field7'], ['field8', 'field9']]

To check which entities support the upsert operation, the oro:api:dump command with --upsert option can be used:

php bin/console oro:api:dump --upsert

Using a Non-Primary Key to Identify an Entity 

By default, a primary key is used to identify ORM entities in API. If you need another field as an identifier, specify it using the identifier_field_names option.

For example, let your entity has the id field that is the primary key and the uuid field that contains a unique value for each entity. To use the uuid field to identify the entity, add the following details to Resources/config/oro/api.yml:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            identifier_field_names: ['uuid']

You can also exclude the id field (primary key) if you do not want to expose it via API:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            identifier_field_names: ['uuid']
            fields:
                id:
                    exclude: true

The default description for all resource identifiers is “The unique identifier of a resource.”. If you need another description, specify it using the identifier_description option, e.g.:

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity:
            identifier_field_names: ['uuid']
            identifier_description: 'The unique identifier of a resource. It is a UUID value.'

Enable API for an Entity Without Identifier 

Sometimes, it is required to create API resource that does not have an identifier. An example of such API resources can be resources for registering a new account or logging in a user.

The following steps describe how to create such API resources:

  1. Create a PHP class to represent the API resource. Usually, such classes are named as models and located in the Api/Model directory. For example:

    namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Model;

class Account
{
    private ?string $name;

    public function getName(): ?string
    {
        return $this->name;
    }

    public function setName(?string $name): void
    {
        $this->name = $name;
    }
}

  2. Describe the model in the Resources/config/oro/api.yml configuration file in your bundle, e.g.:

    api:
    entity_aliases:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Model\Account:
            alias: registeraccount
            plural_alias: registeraccount
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Model\Account:
            fields:
                name:
                    data_type: string
                    description: The user name
                    form_options:
                        constraints:
                            - NotBlank: ~
            actions:
                create:
                    description: Register a new account
                get: false
                update: false
                delete: false

  3. Register a route in the Resources/config/oro/routing.yml configuration file in your bundle using the Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Controller\RestApiController::itemWithoutIdAction as a controller, e.g.,:

    acme_rest_api_register_account:
    path: '%oro_api.rest.prefix%registeraccount'
    controller: Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Controller\RestApiController::itemWithoutIdAction
    defaults:
        entity: registeraccount
    options:
        group: rest_api

  4. Create a processor to handle data, e.g.:

    namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Model\Account;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;

class RegisterAccount implements ProcessorInterface
{
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var Account $account */
        $account = $context->getResult();

        // implement registration of a new account
    }
}

  5. Register a processor in the dependency injection container, e.g.:

    services:
   acme.api.register_account:
       class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\RegisterAccount
       tags:
           - { name: oro.api.processor, action: create, group: save_data, class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Model\Account }

Enable Custom API 

Before you begin, ensure that you are familiar with The Request Type.

Let us consider a case when you need API for integration with some ERP system. In this case, to simplify the development and to avoid unnecessary API calls, your API resources should have the same identifiers as the ERP system. The easiest way to achieve this is to create the erpId field for each entity and map this field as the identifier of API resource via the identifier_field_names configuration option. But the drawback of this approach is that you have to change existing API, and as the result, it may lead to failure of existing API clients. To avoid this, you can keep existing API unchanged and create a new type of API that will have all features of existing API and will have modifications specific for this new integration as well.

To do this, you need to perform the following:

  1. Decide how the API clients should inform server that they need to work with a new type of API. The simplest way is to use a custom HTTP header. If a client sends this header, it will work with new API, if it does not it will work with already existing API. Lets assume that we will use X-Integration-Type header to switch API types. If this header is sent and its value is ERP the new API will be used; otherwise, the already existing API will be used.

  2. Decide which name of the request type you will use for the new API. Lets assume it will be erp.

  3. Decide which name of API configuration files you will use to add modifications specific for the new API. Let’s assume, it will be api_erp.yml.

  4. Add the new type of API to ApiBundle and configure API Sandbox via Resources/config/oro/app.yml configuration file in your bundle:

    oro_api:
   # add API type for ERP integration
   config_files:
       erp:
           # load API configuration for ERP integration from two types of files, api_erp.yml and api.yml
           # the first file has higher priority and any configuration in this file will override
           # configuration from the second one
           file_name: [api_erp.yml, api.yml]
           # use this configuration only if ERP integration API is requested
           request_type: ['erp']

   # configure API Sandbox
   api_doc_views:
       erp_rest_json_api:
           label: ERP Integration
           underlying_view: rest_json_api
           headers:
               X-Integration-Type: ERP
           request_type: ['rest', 'json_api', 'erp']

  5. Create a processor that will check the request header and add erp request type to the execution context of processors:

    namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\Context;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;

class CheckErpRequestType implements ProcessorInterface
{
    private const REQUEST_HEADER_NAME = 'X-Integration-Type';
    private const REQUEST_HEADER_VALUE = 'ERP';
    private const REQUEST_TYPE = 'erp';

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var Context $context */
        $requestType = $context->getRequestType();
        if (!$requestType->contains(self::REQUEST_TYPE)
            && self::REQUEST_HEADER_VALUE === $context->getRequestHeaders()->get(self::REQUEST_HEADER_NAME)
        ) {
            $requestType->add(self::REQUEST_TYPE);
        }
    }
}

  6. Register this processor in the dependency injection container in the Resources/config/services.yml file:

    acme.api.erp.check_erp_request_type:
    class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\CheckErpRequestType
    tags:
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_list, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: delete, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: delete_list, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: create, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: update, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: update_list, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_subresource, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: delete_subresource, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: add_subresource, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: update_subresource, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_relationship, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: delete_relationship, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: add_relationship, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: update_relationship, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: not_allowed, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: unhandled_error, group: initialize, priority: 250 }
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: options, group: initialize, priority: 250 }

  7. Add a localizable name and description for the new API type to Resources/translations/messages.en.yml that will be used by OpenAPI management UI:

    oro:
    api:
        open_api:
            views:
                erp_rest_json_api:
                    label: JSON:API (ERP Integration)
                    description: Backoffice REST API that is used by ERP integration.

  8. Execute the cache:clear command to apply the changes and the oro:api:doc:cache:clear command to build API Sandbox.

That is all. Now, you can open API Sandbox and check that it has the ERP Integration link at the top. Click on this link and try to perform any API request.

To configure the new API, use the Resources/config/oro/api_erp.yml configuration file.

All API processors related to the new API should be registered with the requestType: erp attribute for the oro.api.processor tag, e.g.:

acme.api.erp.do_something:
    class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\DoSomething
    tags:
        - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get, group: initialize, requestType: erp, priority: -10 }

For more details about the configuration and processors, see Configuration Reference, Actions and Processors.

Add a Predefined Identifier to API Resource 

Imagine that you want to provide an API resource for the current authenticated user. There are several ways to do this:

  • Add a Custom Route

  • Add a Custom Controller

  • create a model inherited from an User entity and expose it as a separate API resource

  • reserve some word, e.g. mine, as an predefined identifier of the current authenticated user

The last approach is simplest to implement and more preferred in the most cases, because it gives a possibility to use such identifier in a resource path, filters and request data.

To implement this approach, you need to perform the following:

  1. Create a class that implements EntityIdResolverInterface, e.g.:

    namespace Oro\Bundle\UserBundle\Api;

use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Request\EntityIdResolverInterface;
use Oro\Bundle\SecurityBundle\Authentication\TokenAccessorInterface;
use Oro\Bundle\UserBundle\Entity\User;

/**
 * Resolves "mine" identifier for User entity.
 * This identifier can be used to identify the current authenticated user.
 */
class MineUserEntityIdResolver implements EntityIdResolverInterface
{
    private TokenAccessorInterface $tokenAccessor;

    public function __construct(TokenAccessorInterface $tokenAccessor)
    {
        $this->tokenAccessor = $tokenAccessor;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function getDescription(): string
    {
        return <<<MARKDOWN
**mine** can be used to identify the current authenticated user.
MARKDOWN;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function resolve(): mixed
    {
        $user = $this->tokenAccessor->getUser();

        return $user instanceof User
            ? $user->getId()
            : null;
    }
}

  2. Register this class as a service and tag it with oro.api.entity_id_resolver, e.g.:

    oro_user.api.mine_user_entity_id_resolver:
     class: Oro\Bundle\UserBundle\Api\MineUserEntityIdResolver
     arguments:
         - '@oro_security.token_accessor'
     tags:
         - { name: oro.api.entity_id_resolver, id: mine, class: Oro\Bundle\UserBundle\Entity\User }

If a predefined identifier should be available only for a specific request type, use the requestType attribute of the tag, e.g.:

tags:
        - { name: oro.api.entity_id_resolver, id: mine, requestType: json_api, class: Oro\Bundle\UserBundle\Entity\User }

Add a Computed Field 

Sometimes, it is required to add to the API a field that does not exist in an entity for which API is created. In this case, such field should be added to the API via Resources/config/oro/api.yml and the customize_loaded_data action should be used to set a value of this field.

For example, imagine that a “price” field need to be added to a product API. The following steps show how to do this:

  1. Add the “price” field to the product API via Resources/config/oro/api.yml

    api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Product:
            fields:
                price:
                    data_type: money
                    property_path: _

  2. Create a processor for customize_loaded_data action that will set a value for the “price” field

    namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\CustomizeLoadedData\CustomizeLoadedDataContext;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;

class ComputeProductPriceField implements ProcessorInterface
{
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var CustomizeLoadedDataContext $context */
        $data = $context->getData();

        $priceFieldName = $context->getResultFieldName('price');
        if (!$context->isFieldRequested($priceFieldName, $data)) {
            return;
        }

        $productIdFieldName = $context->getResultFieldName('id');
        if (!$productIdFieldName || empty($data[$productIdFieldName])) {
            return;
        }

        $data[$priceFieldName] = $this->loadProductPrice((int)$data[$productIdFieldName]);
        $context->setData($data);
    }

    /**
     * @param int $productIdFieldName
     * @return null|float
     */
    private function loadProductPrice(int $productIdFieldName): ?float
    {
        // load the product price in this method
    }
}

  3. Register the processor in the dependency injection container

    services:
    acme.api.compute_product_price_field:
        class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\ComputeProductPriceField
        tags:
            - { name: oro.api.processor, action: customize_loaded_data, class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Product }

Add an Association with a Custom Query 

Let’s use the following schema of entities to illustrate how to use a custom query for an association in API:

  • Account entity

#[ORM\OneToMany(mappedBy: 'account', targetEntity: 'AccountContactLink')]
private $contactLinks;

  • Contact entity

#[ORM\OneToMany(mappedBy: 'contact', targetEntity: 'AccountContactLink')]
private $accountLinks;

  • AccountContactLink entity

#[ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity: 'Account', inversedBy: 'contactLinks')]
private $account;

#[ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity: 'Contact', inversedBy: 'accountLinks')]
private $contact;

#[ORM\Column(type: 'boolean', nullable: false, options: ['default' => true])]
private $enabled = true;

This schema represents a many-to-many association between the Account and Contact entities but with an additional attribute for each associated record (e.g., attribute enabled in the example above).

To elaborate illustration further, let’s add contacts relationship to the Account API resource that will contain only enabled contacts. To achieve this:

  • Add the contacts field via Resources/config/oro/api.yml

api:
    entities:
        Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Account:
        fields:
            contacts:
                target_class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Contact
                target_type: to-many
                property_path: _

  • Add a processor to register ORM query that should be used to get enabled contacts for the get and get_list actions

    Note: Aliases e and r are reserved and both must exist in the query. The alias e must correspond to the owning entity of the association. The alias r must correspond to the target entity of the association.

namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Account;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\GetConfig\ConfigContext;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Util\DoctrineHelper;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;

/**
 * Adds a query for "contacts" association of Account entity.
 */
class SetAccountContactsAssociationQuery implements ProcessorInterface
{
    private DoctrineHelper $doctrineHelper;

    public function __construct(DoctrineHelper $doctrineHelper)
    {
        $this->doctrineHelper = $doctrineHelper;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var ConfigContext $context */

        $definition = $context->getResult();
        $contactsField = $definition->getField('contacts');
        if (null !== $contactsField
            && !$contactsField->isExcluded()
            && null === $contactsField->getAssociationQuery()
        ) {
            $contactsField->setAssociationQuery(
                $this->doctrineHelper
                    ->createQueryBuilder(Account::class, 'e')
                    ->innerJoin('e.contactLinks', 'links')
                    ->innerJoin('links.contact', 'r')
                    ->where('links.enabled = :contacts_enabled')
                    ->setParameter('contacts_enabled', true)
            );
        }
    }
}

services:
    acme.api.set_account_contacts_association_query:
        class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\SetAccountContactsAssociationQuery
        arguments:
            - '@oro_api.doctrine_helper'
        tags:
            - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_config, extra: '!identifier_fields_only', class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Account, priority: -35 }

  • If the query added on the previous step is not applicable to load subresources, add a processor to register ORM query that should be used to get enabled contacts for the get_subresource and get_relationship actions

    namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Contact;
use Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\AccountContactLink;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Collection\Join;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\Subresource\Shared\AddParentEntityIdToQuery;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\Subresource\SubresourceContext;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Util\DoctrineHelper;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;

/**
 * Builds ORM QueryBuilder object that will be used to get a list of contacts
 * for Account entity for "get_relationship" and "get_subresource" actions.
 */
class BuildAccountContactsSubresourceQuery implements ProcessorInterface
{
    private DoctrineHelper $doctrineHelper;

    public function __construct(DoctrineHelper $doctrineHelper)
    {
        $this->doctrineHelper = $doctrineHelper;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var SubresourceContext $context */

        if ($context->hasQuery()) {
            // a query is already built
            return;
        }

        $query = $this->doctrineHelper
            ->createQueryBuilder(Contact::class, 'e')
            ->innerJoin(AccountContactLink::class, 'links', Join::WITH, 'links.contact = e')
            ->where('links.account = :' . AddParentEntityIdToQuery::PARENT_ENTITY_ID_QUERY_PARAM_NAME)
            ->setParameter(AddParentEntityIdToQuery::PARENT_ENTITY_ID_QUERY_PARAM_NAME, $context->getParentId());

        $context->setQuery($query);
    }
}

    services:
    acme.api.build_account_contacts_subresource_query:
        class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\BuildAccountContactsSubresourceQuery
        arguments:
            - '@oro_api.doctrine_helper'
        tags:
            - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_subresource, group: build_query, association: contacts, parentClass: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Account, priority: -90 }
            - { name: oro.api.processor, action: get_relationship, group: build_query, association: contacts, parentClass: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\Account, priority: -90 }

Disable HATEOAS 

It is not possible to disable HATEOAS via a configuration. But you can send API request with noHateoas value in X-Include header to exclude HATEOAS links from a response of a particular request.

Validate Virtual Fields 

There are cases when an API resource contains virtual fields; these are fields that do not exist in an entity.

Like with regular fields, values of these fields need to be validated during the create and update actions.

In this case, you can use an API processor for the post_submit event of the customize_form_data action because common Symfony Forms validators are not applicable.

For example, the following API processor validates that a value of a virtual field called label should not be blank for a new Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity entity:

namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor;

use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Form\FormUtil;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Processor\CustomizeFormData\CustomizeFormDataContext;
use Oro\Bundle\ApiBundle\Request\ApiAction;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ContextInterface;
use Oro\Component\ChainProcessor\ProcessorInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotBlank;

class ValidateLabelField implements ProcessorInterface
{
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function process(ContextInterface $context): void
    {
        /** @var CustomizeFormDataContext $context */

        $form = $context->findFormField('label');
        if (null === $form) {
            return;
        }

        if ($context->getParentAction() === ApiAction::CREATE && !$form->isSubmitted()) {
            FormUtil::addFormConstraintViolation($form, new NotBlank());
        }

        if ($form->isSubmitted() && (null === $form->getData() || '' === $form->getData())) {
            FormUtil::addFormConstraintViolation($form, new NotBlank());
        }
    }
}

services:
    acme.api.validate_label_field:
        class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Api\Processor\ValidateLabelField
        tags:
            - { name: oro.api.processor, action: customize_form_data, event: post_submit, class: Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Entity\SomeEntity }

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