Learn how to use the JSON REST API for WordPress

1. JSON REST API for WordPress
@tlovett12
+ JSON
REST API
=

2. Who Am I?
• My name is Taylor Lovett!
• Director of Web Engineering at 10up
• Open source community member
• WordPress core contributor
• WP API team member
@tlovett12

3. We are hiring!
@tlovett12

4. So what’s this new WP API thing all
about? Don’t we already have one?

5. Right now, we have XML-RPC. It works but
is extremely hard to use and outdated.

6. Comparison to other WordPress API’s
!
https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API/blob/
master/docs/comparison.md

7. Why JSON REST API?
• In a nutshell, JSON REST API’s have swept the
web becoming an almost standard. They are
extremely intuitive and provide an easy way to
distribute, collect, and modify data.
Let’s break it down a bit.

8. JSON
• JSON is an abbreviation for “JavaScript Object Notation”
• It’s simply a way to describe data that is lightweight and
extremely easy to use. Arguably much easier to use than
XML.

9. REST
• REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style
that dictates how HTTP and URI’s should be used and organized.
• Verbs and resources: GET /post/1
• Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State (HATEOAS) -
Server provides everything you need to know how to use it in a
response.
• Actions are autonomous and do not depend on each other.
• Bottom line: RESTful API’s have become extremely popular
across the web. They are much easier to use than things like RPC
or SOAP.

10. And of course, API
• An API (Application Programming Interface) is a
set of entry points that allow you to interact with
a platform (WordPress in this case).

11. Ryan McCue and Contributors

12. How can I start using it now?

13. First, install the plugin
http://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/
!
Core integration coming soon.

14. What does the API allow me to do?
/wp-json/
Shows all the routes and endpoints available
/wp-json/posts
Create, read, update, and delete posts
/wp-json/users
Create, read, update, and delete users
/wp-json/media
Create, read, update, and delete media items
/wp-json/taxonomies
Read taxonomies and terms
/wp-json/pages/
Create, read, update, and delete pages

15. The API is rich with functionality.
Explore the documentation!
http://wp-api.org/docs-development/
Let’s look at a few key endpoints.

16. List Posts
[{!
"ID": 11297,!
"title": "Post 19",!
"status": "publish",!
"type": "post",!
"author": 1,!
"content": "",!
"parent": null,!
"link": "http://example.com/2014/08/post-19/",!
"format": "standard",!
"slug": "post-19",!
"guid": "http://example.com/2014/08/post-19/",!
"excerpt": null,!
"menu_order": 0,!
"comment_status": "closed",!
"ping_status": "open",!
"sticky": false,!
"meta": {},!
"featured_image": null,!
"terms": {}!
}]
GET /wp-json/posts

17. List Posts
Endpoint: /wp-json/posts
Takes a number of useful parameters:
• Filter[]: Accepts WP_Query arguments
• Page: Allows for pagination
• Context: Determines usage context i.e. “view or edit”
• …
https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API/blob/master/docs/routes/routes.md

18. Retrieve A Post
{!
"ID": 11297,!
"title": "Post 19",!
"status": "publish",!
"type": "post",!
"author": 1,!
"content": "",!
"parent": null,!
"link": "http://example.com/2014/08/post-19/",!
"format": "standard",!
"slug": "post-19",!
"guid": "http://example.com/2014/08/post-19/",!
"excerpt": null,!
"menu_order": 0,!
"comment_status": "closed",!
"ping_status": "open",!
"sticky": false,!
"meta": {},!
"featured_image": null,!
"terms": {}!
}
GET /wp-json/posts/<id>

19. Edit A Post
PUT /wp-json/posts/<id>
curl -X PUT -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘!
{!
"title": “Updated Title",!
“content_raw": “Updated post content"!
}!
‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/<id>
We need to send a PUT request to this endpoint with
our post data. Of course we must authenticate before
doing this.

20. Three ways to authenticate
• Cookie Authentication (client side)
• HTTP Basic Authentication
• OAuth 1

21. HTTP Basic Authentication
First install the WP Basic Auth Plugin:
https://github.com/WP-API/Basic-Auth
Remember this piece of our cURL request?
-u admin:password
That’s HTTP Basic Authentication! Essentially we are authenticating
by passing an HTTP header like this:
Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==
Where that crazy looking string is username:password base64
encoded.

22. HTTP Basic Authentication
should only be used for testing!

23. OAuth 1.0a
First install the WP OAuth Plugin:
https://github.com/WP-API/OAuth1
OAuth is outside of the scope of this talk. However, it
should be used instead of HTTP Basic Auth when
building external applications that interact with the
API. Rather than giving someone an account on your
site, you can give them temporary access with
OAuth.

24. Create A Post
POST /wp-json/posts/
curl -X POST -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘!
{!
"title": “Title",!
“content_raw": “Post content"!
}!
‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/
Notice we are using a POST request this time.

25. Taxonomies
GET /wp-json/taxonomies
[!
{!
"name": "Categories",!
"slug": "category",!
"labels": {},!
"types": { /* Registered post types */ },!
"show_cloud": true,!
"hierarchical": true,!
"meta": {}!
},!
{!
"name": "Tags",!
"slug": "post_tag",!
"labels": {},!
"types": { /* Registered post types */ },!
"show_cloud": true,!
"hierarchical": false,!
"meta": {}!
}!
}!
]

26. Taxonomy
GET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>
{!
"name": "Categories",!
"slug": "category",!
"labels": {},!
"types": { /* Registered post types */ },!
"show_cloud": true,!
"hierarchical": true,!
"meta": {}!
}

27. Taxonomy Terms
GET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>/terms
[!
{!
"ID": 1,!
"name": "Books",!
"slug": "books",!
"description": "",!
"parent": null,!
"count": 1,!
"link": "http://example.com/category/books/",!
"meta": {}!
},!
{!
"ID": 2,!
"name": "Products",!
"slug": "products",!
"description": "",!
"parent": null,!
"count": 1,!
"link": "http://example.com/category/products/",!
"meta": {}!
}!
]

28. Build Your Own Routes and Endpoints
WP API is very extensible (custom post types!)
http://wp-api.org/guides/extending.html

29. What can I do with the JSON
REST API for WordPress?

30. JavaScript
Interact with your (or someone else’s) WordPress install with
JavaScript.
Backbone.js Client:
https://github.com/WP-API/client-js
!
!
Node.js Client:
https://github.com/kadamwhite/wordpress-rest-api
!

31. Backbone.js
• Backbone.js is a JavaScript framework that lets
you structure code in terms of models, views,
and collections. It works great with RESTful
JSON API’s.

32. _s_backbone
• _s or underscores is a popular starter theme by
Automattic:
https://github.com/automattic/_s
• _s_backbone is an _s fork that powers post
loops using the WP API Backbone client

33. https://github.com/tlovett1/_s_backbone

34. What does this mean?
• It means _s_backbone is a starter theme with
infinite scroll built-in using the WP API Backbone
client.
• Infinite scroll is the concept of loading multiple
rounds of entities without reloading the page.
Let’s look at some code!

35. This is some JavaScript you could add to a theme or
plugin to display your site’s posts. You will first need
to have JSON REST API for WordPress installed and
the “wp-api” JavaScript dependency enqueued.
functions.php:
js/scripts.js:

36. If you learned nothing so far,
know this:
You can do amazing things with the JSON REST
API for WordPress.
With core integration and ~23% of the web using
this API in the near future, you will have much
easier access to data across the web.

37. Questions?
@tlovett12!
taylor.lovett@10up.com!
taylorlovett.com
We need to send a PUT request to this endpoint with
our post data. Of course we must authenticate before
doing this.