WordPress REST APIWhat, How & Why

Nikhil Vishnu@nikhilvishnu

Who am I?

I’m Nikhil Vishnu

● Co-founder and CEO of Mobapper● Working with WordPress for 7 years● Mobile App Developer● WordCamp speaker

What is WordPress JSON REST API?

JSONJavascript Object Notation

{"name" : "Nikhil Vishnu",

"company" : "Mobapper",

"hometown" : "Kottayam, Kerala",

"gender" : "male"

};

REST Representational State Transfer

POST

GET

PUT

DELETE

Create

Read

Update

Delete

APIApplication Programming Interface

"User Interface" that software uses to interact with other software.

Twitter

YouTube

WordPress JSON REST API

“Easy to use REST APIs for retrieving or updating your WordPress website data in simple JSON format.”

WordPress REST API

www.wp-api.org

Why do we need it?

WordPress External API

● XML RPC is very complicated

● 40% of WordPress iOS App code is just for cleaning up xml

How to use WordPress REST API?

Install Pluginhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/rest-api/

What is Available?● wp-json

○ Show all the routes and end points● wp-json/posts

○ create, read, update and delete posts● wp-json/users

○ create,read,update, delete users● wp-json/media

○ create,read,update and delete media items● wp-json/taxonomies

○ read taxonomies and terms● wp-json/pages

○ create,read and delete pages● ...

List all Endpoints

GET /wp-json

List Posts

GET /wp-json/posts

List Posts Parameters

● Filter[] : Accepts WP_Query arguments

● Page : Allows for pagination

● Context : Usage context ‘View’ or ‘Edit’

GET /posts?filter[posts_per_page]=8&filter[order]=ASC

GET /posts?page=1

Retrieve A Post

POST /wp-json/posts/<id>POSTGET

Edit A Post

POST /wp-json/posts/<id>POSTGETPUT

Create A Post

POST /wp-json/posts/POSTGETPOST

Taxonomies

POST /wp-json/taxonomies/POSTGETPOSTGET

Taxonomy Terms

POST /wp-json/terms/categoryPOSTGETPOSTGET

API Documentation

http://wp-api.org

Authentication

● Cookie Authentication (client side)○ For themes & Plugins○ Using nonces for CSRF attacks

● OAuth 1.0○ For external apps○ WP Auth plugin

● HTTP Basic Auth○ For development○ WP Basic Auth Plugin

Custom Endpoints<?php

function my_awesome_func( $data ) {

$posts = get_posts( array(

'author' => $data['id'],

) );

if ( empty( $posts ) ) {

return null;

}

return $posts[0]->post_title;

}

Registering Route<?php

add_action( 'rest_api_init', function () {

register_rest_route( 'myplugin/v1', '/author/(?P<id>\d+)', array(

'methods' => 'GET',

'callback' => 'my_awesome_func',

) );

} );

Where we can use WP API?

Where we can use it?

● Display and manage content in mobile app

● Custom dashboard

● Backbone.js themes/plugins

● Form validation

● Integrate content with other platforms

● Integrate other platforms with WordPress

● ...

Questions?@nikhilvishnu

nikhil@mobapper.com