Unirest Php Laravel Package

Getting Started

Start by installing via Composer: composer require apimatic/unirest-php. Then immediately use one of the HTTP verb shortcuts — Unirest::get(), Unirest::post(), etc. — to make your first call. For example:

$response = \Unirest\Request::get('https://api.example.com/users', ['Accept' => 'application/json']);
echo $response->code;     // HTTP status
echo $response->headers['Content-Type'];
echo $response->body;     // Raw response string (JSON string unless auto-decoded)

Check the src/ folder for the Request and Response classes, and review the examples/ (if present) to see common patterns. Since the package is minimal, the main entrypoint is Unirest\Request::{verb}() — start there before exploring lower-level configuration.

Implementation Patterns

• Quick API Prototyping: Use inline requests in CLI tools or seed scripts (php artisan tinker with Unirest::post()). No middleware, no async — just get(), post() with associative arrays for body/params.
• JSON Payloads & Parsing: Pass arrays as the body; the client automatically JSON-encodes them and sets Content-Type: application/json. Response body is a parsed PHP array or object (via json_decode) — use $response->body['data'] directly.
• Custom Headers & Query Params: Pass headers as the second arg; query params can be appended to the URL or passed in the body for POST/PUT (check API docs — some expect query params even on non-GET requests).
• Timeout & SSL Control: Use Unirest::setDefaultOption() to configure persistent settings (e.g., curl_options for SSL verification, timeout, connect_timeout) across all requests in a request lifecycle — ideal for consistent retry behavior or local dev (disable verify_peer cautiously).
• Asynchronous Not Required: This is synchronous only; for batch requests, wrap calls in loops or a custom retry utility (e.g., 3 retries with exponential backoff using sleep()).

Gotchas and Tips

• JSON Decoding Quirk: By default, body is auto-decoded if Content-Type contains json. Disable with Unirest::setDefaultOption('decoder', 'json'); or set to null to get raw strings. Verify with gettype($response->body) — unexpected string means decoding failed or was skipped.
• No Built-in Retry Logic: Handle retries manually with try/catch around Unirest::*() calls; cURL throws exceptions for network errors (Unirest\Exception), not HTTP error codes (4xx/5xx). Always inspect $response->code.
• Encoding Pitfall: For form POSTs, Unirest::post($url, $headers, $body) sends application/x-www-form-urlencoded only if $body is an array. For multipart/form-data, pass an array with file resources (new CURLFile(...)).
• Testing Tip: Stub the client using dependency injection (e.g., inject a UnirestClient wrapper class) — mocking the Request class directly is harder due to static methods.
• Security: Always validate and sanitize URLs passed to get(). Never inject user input directly into the URL without urlencode() for query parts. Disable SSL verification (verify_peer => false) only in dev — never in production.