HTTP Requests for developing API

[Mahan-Iranfar]

Description

To handle PUT, PATCH, and DELETE requests in PHP for API development, you'll need to manually parse input data since PHP doesn't provide $_PUT, $_PATCH, or $_DELETE superglobals natively. Nowadays, the development world has moved towards separating frontend and backend tasks, which increases the need for API development compared to handling everything within a full-stack framework. Therefore, having these superglobals is essential for PHP to regain its power and vitality.

Continuing this thought, as frontend frameworks like AngularJS, React, and Vue.js become more prevalent, the backend's role shifts primarily to serving APIs rather than rendering views directly. This architectural shift demands cleaner, more efficient handling of HTTP methods beyond GET and POST. Without native superglobals for PUT, PATCH, and DELETE, PHP developers must write additional code to parse raw input streams, which can lead to inconsistencies and bugs. Introducing these superglobals would align PHP more closely with modern web standards and simplify API development workflows. It would also reduce the cognitive load on developers who currently juggle multiple parsing strategies, allowing them to focus on business logic and improving maintainability. Ultimately, this evolution would strengthen PHP’s position in the ecosystem, making it a more attractive choice for building scalable, RESTful APIs in today’s decoupled frontend-backend environments.
add this syntax:

$data = $_PUT['key']
$data = $_PATCH['key']
$data = $_DELETE['key']

[DanielEScherzer]

Does https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.request-parse-body.php meet your needs? See https://wiki.php.net/rfc/rfc1867-non-post for background

[Mahan-Iranfar]

Thank you very much for your assistance. I have thoroughly studied the PHP documentation multiple times and, drawing from my experience developing a personal mini-framework for API development, I have experimented with various methods for manual input parsing. However, what truly motivated me to consider this issue was the desire to revive PHP and align it with modern web standards. Although I have worked with several frameworks and programming languages for API development, I have a strong preference for PHP. Therefore, the modernization of this language is particularly important to me. I hope I have conveyed my thoughts clearly, and if you require any further explanation or details from my side, I would be more than happy to provide them. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[DanielEScherzer]

So, does it meet your needs or not?

[Mahan-Iranfar]

In general, yes, that is correct. However, as a web developer who strives to continuously update my skills, I believe this approach can serve as a viable alternative, though it is neither the best, the most efficient, nor the simplest method.

[Mahan-Iranfar]

For example, this is one of the simple ways to parse manually i think:

<?php
header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8');
$method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'];
function getInputData() {
    $input = file_get_contents('php://input');
    $contentType = $_SERVER["CONTENT_TYPE"] ?? '';
    if (stripos($contentType, 'application/json') !== false) {
        $data = json_decode($input, true);
        if (json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
            http_response_code(400);
            echo json_encode(['error' => 'Invalid JSON input']);
            exit;
        }
        return $data;
    } elseif (stripos($contentType, 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded') !== false) {
        parse_str($input, $data);
        return $data;
    } else {
        http_response_code(415);
        echo json_encode(['error' => 'Unsupported Content-Type']);
        exit;
    }
}
switch ($method) {
    case 'PUT':
    case 'PATCH':
    case 'DELETE':
        $data = getInputData();
        break;
    default:
        $data = null;
        break;
}
if ($data !== null) {
    http_response_code(200);
    echo json_encode([
        'method' => $method,
        'received_data' => $data
    ]);
} else {
    http_response_code(405);
    echo json_encode(['error' => 'Method Not Allowed or No data received']);
}
?>

[Mahan-Iranfar]

In my opinion, for performing such routine operations in HTTP requests, it would be preferable for PHP itself to provide a dedicated feature that is more reliable, optimized, and accessible to the broader developer community.