API Version Control

A Laravel package to manage versions of endpoints in an elegant way.

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Two ways to manage the versions of your endpoints

Option 1: Version Statement

You probably use if statements to determine whether the code should be executed from a particular version. But what do you do if you want to run this code for 2 endpoints, one from version 2 and the other from version 3? This package offers a clean solution for this: Version Statement.

Option 2: Version Middleware

Legacy code can get in the way quickly. Do you therefore create multiple controllers to separate the old code from the new code? How do you do this if there are 10 versions at a given time? By then, will you also have 10 validation schemes and response classes for each endpoint? This package also offers a SOLID solution that goes even further than Version Statement: Version Middleware.

You can use Version Middleware and Version Statement together in one project

Benefits

	Version Statement	Version Middleware
Upgrading all endpoints or one specific endpoint.	✔️	✔️
One overview of all versions with the adjustments.	✔️	✔️
The controller (and further) always contains the latest version.		✔️
Old versions are only defined once. Once made, you don't have to worry about that anymore.		✔️

Note for Version Middleware: If you do not yet use a self-made middleware, you can debug from your controller. With Version Middleware, colleagues must now understand that (only with an old version of an endpoint) the code in a middleware also influences the rest of the code.

How To Use

Releases

In api_version_control.php config file you will see releases with an array of versions:

    'releases' => [

        'orders.index' => [
            '<=1' => [
                PrepareParameterException::class,
            ],
        ],

        'orders.store|orders.update' => [
            '<=2' => [
                ThrowCustomException::class,
                ValidateZipCode::class,
            ],
            '<=1' => [
                PrepareParameterException::class,
            ],
        ],

        'default' => [
            '<=1' => [
                ThrowCustomException::class,
            ],
        ],

        'all' => [
            '<=1.0' => [
                RequireUserAgent::class,
            ],
        ],

    ],

Route Match

You put the route names in the key of the releases array. The key must match the current route name. Use a | to match multiple route names. The package runs through the route names. If a match is found, it stops searching. The match contains Version Rules. If no Route Name match can be found, default will be used. That way you can update all your other endpoints. To match versions on all endpoints, you can use the all key.

You have to specify the route names in your router. Example: Route::get('orders', 'OrdersController@index')->name('orders.index');. When using you use Resource Controllers, the names are determined automatically. For more information, see the Laravel documentation.

Version Rules

Version Rules contains a string with an operator and a version ('<=2'). Supported operators are: <, <=, >, >=, ==, !=. All classes within the Version Rules with a match are used. The classes within Version rule are Version Statement and Version Middleware.

Version Statement

A Version Statement file looks like this:

<?php

namespace App\VersionControl\Orders;

use ReindertVetter\ApiVersionControl\Concerns\VersionStatement;

class ValidateZipCode
{
    use VersionStatement;
}

If the file contains the trait \ReindertVetter\ApiVersionControl\Concerns\VersionStatement, then you can do the following in your source code:

if (ValidateZipCode::permitted()) {
    (...)
}

Version Middleware

You process all requests and responses what is different from the latest version in middlewares. You can adjust the request with multiple middlewares to match the latest version. You can also adjust the format of a response in the Version Middleware.

A Version Middleware file (that changing the request) can looks like this:

<?php

namespace App\Middleware\Version;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class PrepareParameterException
{
    /**
     * @param           $request
     * @param  \Closure $next
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
    {
        // Set the default parameter because it is required in a newer version.
        $request->query->set('sort', 'DESC');

        return $next($request);
    }
}

A Version Middleware file (that changing the response) can looks like this:

<?php

namespace App\Middleware\Version;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ThrowHumanException
{
    /**
     * @param           $request
     * @param  \Closure $next
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
    {
        /** @var \Illuminate\Http\Response $response */
        $response = $next($request);

        // Catch the exception to return an exception in a different format.
        if ($response->exception) {
            $response->setContent(
                [
                    "errors" => [
                        [
                            "human" => $response->exception->getMessage(),
                        ],
                    ],
                ]
            );
        }

        return $response;
    }
}

Request and Resource Binding

You can bind a FormRequest or a Resource to handle other versions. That way you can more easily support different parameters with rules, and you can more easily support different resources. A controller that supports different versions could look like:

    public function index(OrderIndexRequest $request, OrderResource $resource): ResourceCollection
    {
        $orders = Order::query()
            ->productIds($request->productIds())
            ->with($resource->withRelationships())
            ->paginate($request->limit());

        return $resource::collection($orders);
    }

The $request can be either OrderIndexRequestV1 or OrderIndexRequestV2 and the $resource can be either OrderResourceV1 or OrderResourceV2. OrderIndexRequestV2 must extend the base class OrderIndexRequest. You can do the same for the resource class. When using the Bind middleware, then the configuration will look like this:

<?php

use ReindertVetter\ApiVersionControl\Middleware\Version\Bind;

return [

    'releases' => [

        'orders.index' => [
            '<=1' => [
                new Bind(OrderIndexRequest::class, OrderIndexRequestV1::class),
                new Bind(OrderIndexResource::class, OrderIndexResourceV1::class),
            ],
            '>=2' => [
                new Bind(OrderIndexRequest::class, OrderIndexRequestV2::class),
                new Bind(OrderIndexResource::class, OrderIndexResourceV2::class),
            ],
        ],

    ]
]

If it's not quite clear yet, post your question in the discussion.

Version Parser

Out of the box this package supports versions in the header accept and versions in the URI. But you can also create your own version parser. Specify this in api_version_control.php config file.

Install

Run composer require reindert-vetter/api-version-control.
Add ->middleware(['api', ApiVersionControl::class]) in your RouteServiceProvider.

If you are using URL Version Parser (which is the default) make sure the version variable is present in the url. For example:

Route::middleware(['api', ApiVersionControl::class])
    ->prefix('api/{version}')
    ->where(['version' => 'v\d{1,3}'])
    ->group(base_path('routes/api.php'));

Now the routes are only accessible with a version in the URL (eg /api/v2/products). Do you also want the endpoint to work without a version in the url? Then first define the routes without the version variable:

Route::middleware(['api', ApiVersionControl::class])
    ->prefix('api')
    ->as('no_version.')
    ->group(base_path('routes/api.php'));

Route::middleware(['api', ApiVersionControl::class])
    ->prefix('api/{version}')
    ->where(['version' => 'v\d{1,3}'])
    ->group(base_path('routes/api.php'));

You can see here that we prefix the route name with no_version. (for the routers without a version). You have to do that to avoid the error Another route is already using that name when caching the routers. Decide for yourself whether this is desirable for your application.

Add \ReindertVetter\ApiVersionControl\ApiVersionControlServiceProvider::class to your providers in config/app.php
Create a config file by running php artisan vendor:publish --provider='ReindertVetter\ApiVersionControl\ApiVersionControlServiceProvider'.
Choose a Version parser or create one yourself.
Run (when necessary) php artisan route:clear or php artisan route:cache