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Scripts / Restructuring an API response php

Description

Sometimes an API client expects data to be returned using a rigid data structure, and updating the client to suit new requirements is either difficult or even impossible. Using DreamFactory's event-driven scripting engine you can easily reformat API responses so suit any expectation.

The script presented in this example would be attached to an API endpoint as a post-process event handler. It will intercept the response body, and iterate over the records contained therein, placing the first_name and last_name fields under a new name field before returning the modified response to the client. For instance, here's an example original record returned from a table containing employee information:

{
  "emp_id": "111AD87BY",
  "birth_date": "1953-09-02",
  "first_name": "Steve",
  "last_name": "Smith",
  "gender": "M",
  "hire_date": "1986-06-26"
}

After applying the post-process event handler script, the record will look like this:

{
  "emp_id": "111AD87BY",
  "birth_date": "1953-09-02",
  "name": {
    "first_name": "Steve",
    "last_name": "Smith",
  }.
  "gender": "M",
  "hire_date": "1986-06-26"
}

Code

$responseBody = $event['response']['content'];

foreach ($responseBody['resource'] as $n => $record) {
    $record["name"] = $record["first_name"] . " " . $record["last_name"];
    unset($record["first_name"]);
    unset($record["last_name"]);
    $responseBody['resource'][$n] = $record;
}

$event['response']['content'] = $responseBody;

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