The following describes how to create a basic REST API with Restler and Backbone.

A recent job involved making some data accessible online. I used the following tools to convert raw data (property information) into a RESTful API so that it could be easily accessed from any client. In this case an HTML front-end was chosen, but the data may just as well have been pulled from an Android or iOS device.

Steps taken:

• A python script was built to convert a .csv file of raw data into a MySQL script. This was used to populate the properties table.
• PHP classes were built to represent and validate property objects, as well as save and retrieve records from the properties table.
• Restler 3.0 was used to create an HTTP web service API from the PHP classes.
• Backbone.js was used to connect a web page to the API over a RESTful JSON interface.

Don't get too excited, it's only a CRUD app ;) but the front-end is totally driven by AJAX and Backbone - no form posts are involved:
A basic REST API with Restler and Backbone

REST URL:
http://bit-taming.com/content/projects/restler-backbone-example/api/property

• The development and test environment was Mac OSX (10.6.8), Apache, MySQL (5.1.65) and PHP (5.3.15). See useful resources below for pointers on setting up an AMP development environment on Mac OSX.
• Python was used to convert the sample data to a MySQL script. See useful resources below for pointers on setting up python on Mac OSX.

• This web application was built to run on the Apache/MySQL/PHP stack. See useful resources below for pointers on setting up an AMP development environment on Mac OSX.
  (UPDATE!!! I've just successfully run the app on a WAMPServer on Windows 7, with no reconfiguration necessary)
• Download and copy the files to some sub-folder of your web server.
• The SQL script to create the MySQL database can be found in resources/db_script.mysql. In this script you will need to adjust the database name and user names and passwords appropriately. I used PHPMyAdmin (see resources below for setup details) to create the database, users and tables.
• I wrote a python script (resources/build_table_script.py) to generate the MySQL script necessary to create the database table and records (resources/table_script.mysql). The raw sample data can be found in resources/sample.csv. See useful resources below for pointers on setting up a python environment on Mac OSX.
• pdo/conn.php contains the database connection settings. you will need to adjust these settings appropriately.
• In lib/core.php, set_include_path needs to be properly configured. I set this to the path of the app's home folder.
• The front-end needs to be configured to pull data from the correct URL. Open js/app.js, search for "NOTE!!!", and update the URLs accordingly.
• Browse to ./index.html. Hopefully you will see a table displaying the retrieved property records.
• That's it! If you're new to Python/Restler/Backbone browse the code to see how it all works. I used Eclipse to build and debug the app. See useful resources below for setup details.

• Properties are represented in the system by the Property class defined in pbo/property.php.
• The Property class was deliberately designed to allow easy conversion to a RESTful API. Restler uses get, put, post, and delete to map PHP methods to respective HTTP methods.
• These four methods can be found in the Base class in pbo/base.php. This class can be extended to represent any other object in the system - such as Property.
• The Property class also contains methods for the validation of user input.
• api/index.php is used to create the REST API endpoints. This file acts as a "wrapper" around pbo/property.php so that Property objects are exposed via REST URLs. This Restler example explains the mechanism in greater detail.
• api/.htaccess re-writes the URL to a friendlier format: ie: from http://.../restler-backbone-example/api/property/index.php/1, say, to http://.../restler-backbone-example/api/property/1.
• The lib folder contains some PHP helper scripts.
• The vendor folder contains the Restler code. This was directly copied from the unzipped download. No modifications were necessary.
• The app/lib folder contains open source javascript utilities. No modifications were necessary. Replace these files with their latest versions if so desired. Besides Backbone:
  • jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.
  • Underscore.js is a utility-belt library for JavaScript.
  • json2.js is for JSON in JavaScript.
  • mustache.js is for minimal templating in JavaScript.

In this app, a lot of functionality was stripped away to highlight the relevant areas. To make this a "well-rounded" application, the following will need to be done:

• Set up an authentication framework.
• Set up a test framework.
• More Documentation.
• Page the retrieved data.
• Make the page responsive.

• Browse this older post for development server setup details (for Mac OSX 10.6.8 snow leopard).
• PyDev is a python development framework. Following these instructions for integrating PyDev with Eclipse helped to build resources/build_table_script.py described above.
• The following python resources were useful:
  • Dictionaries and lists
  • Parsing a CSV file
  • List comprehensions
• This Restler example provided the basis for the data and business object layers. Luracast's Restler 3.0 is an open source program for creating HTTP web service APIs from PHP classes.
• Here is the Backbone.js GitHub repository. This example was very helpful in building the application you see here. The annotated code does a great job of explaining how Backbone works.
• Core Web Application Development with PHP and MySQL (Wandschneider) provided the session and error-handling smarts behind the page.