JSON REST API for WordPress

@tlovett12

+ JSON REST API

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Who Am I?

• My name is Taylor Lovett!

• Director of Web Engineering at 10up

• Open source community member

• WordPress core contributor

• WP API team member

@tlovett12

We are hiring!@tlovett12

So what’s this new WP API thing all about? Don’t we already have one?

Right now, we have XML-RPC. It works but is extremely hard to use and outdated.

Comparison to other WordPress API’s !

https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API/blob/master/docs/comparison.md

Why JSON REST API?

• In a nutshell, JSON REST API’s have swept the web becoming an almost standard. They are extremely intuitive and provide an easy way to distribute, collect, and modify data.

Let’s break it down a bit.

JSON

• JSON is an abbreviation for “JavaScript Object Notation”

• It’s simply a way to describe data that is lightweight and extremely easy to use. Arguably much easier to use than XML.

REST• REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style

that dictates how HTTP and URI’s should be used and organized.

• Verbs and resources: GET /post/1

• Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State (HATEOAS) - Server provides everything you need to know how to use it in a response.

• Actions are autonomous and do not depend on each other.

• Bottom line: RESTful API’s have become extremely popular across the web. They are much easier to use than things like RPC or SOAP.

And of course, API

• An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of entry points that allow you to interact with a platform (WordPress in this case).

Ryan McCue and Contributors

How can I start using it now?

First, install the plugin

http://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/ !

Core integration coming soon.

What does the API allow me to do?

/wp-json/ Shows all the routes and endpoints available

/wp-json/posts Create, read, update, and delete posts

/wp-json/users Create, read, update, and delete users

/wp-json/media Create, read, update, and delete media items

/wp-json/taxonomies Read taxonomies and terms

/wp-json/pages/ Create, read, update, and delete pages

The API is rich with functionality. Explore the documentation!

http://wp-api.org/docs-development/

Let’s look at a few key endpoints.

List Posts

[{! "ID": 11297,! "title": "Post 19",! "status": "publish",! "type": "post",! "author": 1,! "content": "",! "parent": null,! "link": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",! "format": "standard",! "slug": "post-19",! "guid": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",! "excerpt": null,! "menu_order": 0,! "comment_status": "closed",! "ping_status": "open",! "sticky": false,! "meta": {},! "featured_image": null,! "terms": {}!}]

GET /wp-json/posts

List PostsEndpoint: /wp-json/posts

Takes a number of useful parameters:

• Filter[]: Accepts WP_Query arguments

• Page: Allows for pagination

• Context: Determines usage context i.e. “view or edit”

• …

https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API/blob/master/docs/routes/routes.md

Retrieve A Post

{! "ID": 11297,! "title": "Post 19",! "status": "publish",! "type": "post",! "author": 1,! "content": "",! "parent": null,! "link": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",! "format": "standard",! "slug": "post-19",! "guid": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",! "excerpt": null,! "menu_order": 0,! "comment_status": "closed",! "ping_status": "open",! "sticky": false,! "meta": {},! "featured_image": null,! "terms": {}!}

GET /wp-json/posts/<id>

Edit A PostPUT /wp-json/posts/<id>

curl -X PUT -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘!{! "title": “Updated Title",! “content_raw": “Updated post content"!}!‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/<id>

We need to send a PUT request to this endpoint with our post data. Of course we must authenticate before

doing this.

Three ways to authenticate

• Cookie Authentication (client side)

• HTTP Basic Authentication

• OAuth 1

HTTP Basic AuthenticationFirst install the WP Basic Auth Plugin:

https://github.com/WP-API/Basic-Auth

Remember this piece of our cURL request?

-u admin:password

That’s HTTP Basic Authentication! Essentially we are authenticating by passing an HTTP header like this:

Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==

Where that crazy looking string is username:password base64 encoded.

HTTP Basic Authentication should only be used for testing!

OAuth 1.0aFirst install the WP OAuth Plugin:

https://github.com/WP-API/OAuth1

OAuth is outside of the scope of this talk. However, it should be used instead of HTTP Basic Auth when building external applications that interact with the

API. Rather than giving someone an account on your site, you can give them temporary access with

OAuth.

Create A PostPOST /wp-json/posts/

curl -X POST -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘!{! "title": “Title",! “content_raw": “Post content"!}!‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/

Notice we are using a POST request this time.

TaxonomiesGET /wp-json/taxonomies

[! {! "name": "Categories",! "slug": "category",! "labels": {},! "types": { /* Registered post types */ },! "show_cloud": true,! "hierarchical": true,! "meta": {}! },! {! "name": "Tags",! "slug": "post_tag",! "labels": {},! "types": { /* Registered post types */ },! "show_cloud": true,! "hierarchical": false,! "meta": {}! }! }!]

TaxonomyGET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>

{! "name": "Categories",! "slug": "category",! "labels": {},! "types": { /* Registered post types */ },! "show_cloud": true,! "hierarchical": true,! "meta": {}!}

Taxonomy TermsGET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>/terms

[! {! "ID": 1,! "name": "Books",! "slug": "books",! "description": "",! "parent": null,! "count": 1,! "link": "http:\/\/example.com\/category\/books\/",! "meta": {}! },! {! "ID": 2,! "name": "Products",! "slug": "products",! "description": "",! "parent": null,! "count": 1,! "link": "http:\/\/example.com\/category\/products\/",! "meta": {}! }!]

Build Your Own Routes and Endpoints

WP API is very extensible (custom post types!)http://wp-api.org/guides/extending.html

What can I do with the JSON REST API for WordPress?

JavaScript

Interact with your (or someone else’s) WordPress install with JavaScript.

Backbone.js Client: https://github.com/WP-API/client-js

!!

Node.js Client: https://github.com/kadamwhite/wordpress-rest-api

!

Backbone.js

• Backbone.js is a JavaScript framework that lets you structure code in terms of models, views, and collections. It works great with RESTful JSON API’s.

_s_backbone

• _s or underscores is a popular starter theme by Automattic:https://github.com/automattic/_s

• _s_backbone is an _s fork that powers post loops using the WP API Backbone client

https://github.com/tlovett1/_s_backbone

What does this mean?

• It means _s_backbone is a starter theme with infinite scroll built-in using the WP API Backbone client.

• Infinite scroll is the concept of loading multiple rounds of entities without reloading the page.

Let’s look at some code!

This is some JavaScript you could add to a theme or plugin to display your site’s posts. You will first need to have JSON REST API for WordPress installed and the “wp-api” JavaScript dependency enqueued.

functions.php:

js/scripts.js:

If you learned nothing so far, know this:

You can do amazing things with the JSON REST API for WordPress.

With core integration and ~23% of the web using this API in the near future, you will have much easier access to data across the web.

Questions?

We need to send a PUT request to this endpoint with our post data. Of course we must authenticate before

doing this.

@tlovett12!

taylor.lovett@10up.com!

taylorlovett.com