Laravel 8 HTTP Client Introduction

Laravel has evolved significantly since the release of version 7.x.x. One of the key areas of improvement revolves around the Guzzle HTTP Client. This article will serve as an introduction to Laravel 8 HTTP Client.

Tóm Tắt

Requirements

PHP 7.4.x
Laravel 8.x
Postman

A quick introduction to the Guzzle API

Imagine you are building a web application, and you want it to communicate with other online services. For instance, you may want to fetch movies from the Movie Database, and display them in your application. How do you achieve this in PHP?

Well, as you might have already guessed, Guzzle HTTP Client is the simple solution to the above problem. Guzzle HTTP client allows your application to make HTTP requests.

With this in mind, in order to get movies from the Movie Database API we would do the following:


<?
php
$client
=
 new
 GuzzleHttp\Client();
$res
=
$client
->
request
('GET'
,'https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/550?api_key={api_key}&callback=test');
echo
 $res->
getBody();
?>

Note:

To test the above code, you need to install Guzzle HTTP Client.
You should replace the api_key value with your key from themoviedb.org.
You can also modify the link to return different data.

Guzzle HTTP Client was used as the primary way of making HTTP requests in earlier Laravel versions.

HTTP Client

Now that we’ve got a little knowledge on how the Guzzle HTTP client works, let’s focus on the new HTTP Client. Why would Laravel creators migrate from that simple implementation to the new HTTP Client? Is there a difference?

The objective of a framework is to make a programmer’s life easier while reducing the development period. As a rule of thumb, you should minimize code to make it more efficient and eliminate unnecessary statements.

That’s exactly what the HTTP Client is doing, it’s simply an improvement of the Guzzle HTTP Client. HTTP Client facilitates outgoing HTTP requests without the need for ‘unnecessary code’, like in the past.

Guzzle package installation

Throughout this tutorial, we will use PHP 7.4.x and Laravel 8.x.x. Therefore, make sure that they are installed in order to follow along.

To get started with HTTP Client, we will need to have the Guzzle package installed in our project. By default, Laravel ships with this package.

In case you have accidentally deleted it, install it via:


composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

Making HTTP requests

Since Laravel 7.x, HTTP Client is included as a built-in feature. With working examples, I want to show you the new way of making HTTP requests.

If you have used Postman before, you may have encountered some HTTP methods for RESTful (Representational state transfer) services.

For newbies, don’t worry, RESTful APIs simply uses HTTP requests to access and use data. You can learn more here.

The HTTP client in Laravel uses the same concept we have discussed above.

To make requests we need a few methods listed below:

POST
GET
PUT
PATCH
DELETE

As noted, the HTTP client ships with the Laravel framework since version 7. This means that it’s built-in, hence no need for any installation. The only concept in Laravel that you should know by now is the use of Laravel Facades. This is a class that provides an interface to access objects directly from the container.

As a quick reminder, Laravel facades are defined in the namespace.

Illuminate\Support\Facades

Let’s look at an example:


use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;

Route
::
get
('/cache'
, function () {
    
return
 Cache
::
get
('key');
});

From the example above, we have demonstrated one use case of Laravel facade, Cache, which has a method called get, that is used to retrieve items from the cache.

In case you’re not familiar with facades, the Laravel facades documentation could be of great help, feel free to learn more before you continue with this tutorial.

Now that we have learned how to use Laravel facades, it’s time to have a look at how to make requests using HTTP Client. Remember the example at the beginning of the tutorial, of getting movies using Guzzle HTTP client? Check it out if you have forgotten how we made a simple GET request.

In this example, let’s see how to make a simple GET request to get movies from the moviedb.


<?
php

namespace
 App\Http\Controllers;

use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

class
 MoviesController
 extends
 Controller
{
    
/**
     * Show a list of all movies.
     *
     * @return Response
     */
    
public
 function
 index()
    {
       $response 
= 
            
Http
::
get
('https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/550?api_key=APIKEY');
       
return
 response
()->
json($response);
    }
}

Note:-themoviedb.org gives each developer an API key to use their services. You’re therefore advised to create one with them via themoviedb.org.

Feel free to modify the link above to any other link.

To test this code on Postman, start your server by navigating into your project root, as shown below.


cd /var/www/html/TestHttp

Run php artisan serve to start your application, copy this link and paste onto Postman, ensure the HTTP method is GET then press the send button to fetch data.

Congratulations, you have made your first HTTP request using Laravel built-in feature, HTTP Client.

HTTP response

If you ran the above example correctly, you will receive a response such as the one below:


{
    
"adult"
: false,
    
"backdrop_path"
: "/52AfXWuXCHn3UjD17rBruA9f5qb.jpg",
    
"belongs_to_collection"
: null,
    
"budget"
: 63000000,
    
"genres": [
        {
            
"id"
: 18,
            
"name"
: "Drama"
        }
    ],
    
"homepage"
: "http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/fight-club",
    
"id"
: 550,
    
"imdb_id"
: "tt0137523",
    
"original_language"
: "en",
    
"original_title"
: "Fight Club",
    
"overview"
: "A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground \"fight clubs\" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.",
    
"popularity"
: 45.184,
    
"poster_path"
: "/bptfVGEQuv6vDTIMVCHjJ9Dz8PX.jpg",
    
"production_companies": [
        {
            
"id"
: 508,
            
"logo_path"
: "/7PzJdsLGlR7oW4J0J5Xcd0pHGRg.png",
            
"name"
: "Regency Enterprises",
            
"origin_country"
: "US"
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 711,
            
"logo_path"
: "/tEiIH5QesdheJmDAqQwvtN60727.png",
            
"name"
: "Fox 2000 Pictures",
            
"origin_country"
: "US"
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 20555,
            
"logo_path"
: "/hD8yEGUBlHOcfHYbujp71vD8gZp.png",
            
"name"
: "Taurus Film",
            
"origin_country"
: "DE"
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 54051,
            
"logo_path"
: null,
            
"name"
: "Atman Entertainment",
            
"origin_country"
: ""
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 54052,
            
"logo_path"
: null,
            
"name"
: "Knickerbocker Films",
            
"origin_country"
: "US"
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 25,
            
"logo_path"
: "/qZCc1lty5FzX30aOCVRBLzaVmcp.png",
            
"name"
: "20th Century Fox",
            
"origin_country"
: "US"
        },
        {
            
"id"
: 4700,
            
"logo_path"
: "/A32wmjrs9Psf4zw0uaixF0GXfxq.png",
            
"name"
: "The Linson Company",
            
"origin_country"
: ""
        }
    ],
    
"production_countries": [
        {
            
"iso_3166_1"
: "DE",
            
"name"
: "Germany"
        },
        {
            
"iso_3166_1"
: "US",
            
"name"
: "United States of America"
        }
    ],
    
"release_date"
: "1999-10-15",
    
"revenue"
: 100853753,
    
"runtime"
: 139,
    
"spoken_languages": [
        {
            
"english_name"
: "English",
            
"iso_639_1"
: "en",
            
"name"
: "English"
        }
    ],
    
"status"
: "Released",
    
"tagline"
: "Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.",
    
"title"
: "Fight Club",
    
"video"
: false,
    
"vote_average"
: 8.4,
    
"vote_count"
: 20780
}

The HTTP client’s Get method returns an instance of the Illuminate\Http\Client\Response. This response has several methods that could be used to get more information about the response.

For instance, the above example could be rewritten to return Illuminate\Http\Client\Response. This response has a method such as status() that can be used to get the status of the HTTP response.

Take a look at the following example:


<?
php

namespace
 App\Http\Controllers;

use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

class
 MoviesController
 extends
 Controller
{
    
/**
     * Show a list of all movies.
     *
     * @return Response
     */
    
public
 function
 index()
    {
       $response 
= 
            
Http
::
get
('https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/550?api_key=APIKEY');
       
return $response;
    }
}
?>

To get a status from the above response, you would simply do the following:


$response
->
status
() :
 int;

Other methods for inspecting your response include:


$response
->
body
() :
 string;
$response
->
json
() :
 array
|
mixed;
$response
->
ok
() :
 bool;
$response
->
successful
() :
 bool;
$response
->
failed
() :
 bool;
$response
->
serverError
() :
 bool;
$response
->
clientError
() :
 bool;
$response
->
header
($header) :
 string;
$response
->
headers
() :
 array;

Making HTTP Post request

This method is used to send additional data together with the request. Let’s say, for example, you have an application that requires users to register via APIs. How do you achieve this functionality in Laravel?

Let’s have a look at an example of a simple Laravel auth application:



namespace
 App\Http\Controllers;

use
 Illuminate\Http\Request;
use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;


class
 HttpAuthController
 exends
 Controller
{
    
public
 function
 create
(Request $request)
    {
        $response 
= 
        
Http
::
post
('http://example.com/users', [
                
'name'
 =>
 'Miller Juma',
                
'role'
 =>
 'Laravel Contributor',
        ]);
        
return $response;
    }
}

The above HTTP post method accepts an array of data as the second argument which is sent in JSON format. The Post method above accepts username and role, this array is then sent to the indicated web application URL to register the user.

Making HTTP PUT request

This method is used to send additional data together with the request to modify the targeted resource.



namespace
 App\Http\Controllers;

use
 Illuminate\Http\Request;
use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;


class
 HttpAuthController
 exends
 Controller
{
    
public
 function
 create
(Request $request)
    {
        $response 
= 
        
Http
::
put
('http://example.com/users', [
                
'name'
 =>
 'Wendy Brilliant',
        ]);
        
return $response;
    }
}

The HTTP put method accepts an array of data as the second argument which is sent in a JSON format to modify the resource.

Making HTTP delete request

This method is used to send additional data together with the request to delete the targeted resource.



namespace
 App\Http\Controllers;

use
 Illuminate\Http\Request;
use
 Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;


class
 HttpAuthController
 exends
 Controller
{
    
public
 function
 create
(Request $request)
    {
        $response 
= 
        
Http
::
delete
('http://example.com/users', [
                
'user_id'
 =>
 '1',
        ]);
        
return $response;
    }
}

The HTTP delete method accepts an array of data as the second argument that is sent in a JSON format to modify the resource.
In this case, the resource deleted is user_id=1.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned how to use the new Laravel HTTP Client. We have seen how to make GET, POST, PUT and DELETE requests. To gain more insights on other features of HTTP requests, follow this link as it will be of great help.

Happy Coding!

Peer Review Contributions by Wanja Mike