how to call using the rest_client in codeigniter - rest

Question

I am new to CodeIgniter and Rest API. I am trying to implement REST API in CodeIgniter and have used Phil Sturgeon's rest-client and rest-server. I have watched few tutorials and have successfully implemented the Rest-Server part (checking with Chrome's Rest Client APP). But, to implement the Rest-Client, I am having few troubles.
Do I need to have cURL and CodeIgniter's cUrl Library?
If yes, how should I set it up?
I watched this tutorial too by Phil Sturgeon but in this tutorial, he has only used the Rest-Client function to call the Server. But not defined where to put it. Here's the code
function rest_client($id){
$this->load->library('rest', array(
'server' => 'http://localhost/rest/index.php/restgetcontroller/',
));
$user = $this->rest->get('user', array('id' => $id), 'json');
echo $user->name;
}
I am sorry if it is too simple.
Thank You
Edit: I made a Client controller and put there a method to call it. But when I load the page, I get this error.
Call to undefined method CI_Loader::spark()

Answer 1

You can use wherever you need to retrieve a value from your API.
$user will have a value you can use for your purpose.
Basically, you would use the API where you used to use a Model, because now the interaction with the database is made with the API, not from your Controllers directly.

Answer 2

To call RESTful APIs you'll require CURL, there's a library called Guzzlehttp to use CURL more efficiently.
You can use composer to install the library or simply download the zip and require it in your controller.
Example Usage:
try {
$guzzleHttp = new GuzzleHttp\Client([
'verify' => false
]);
$http_response = $guzzleHttp->request('GET', 'http://localhost/rest/index.php/restgetcontroller/');
$response = json_decode($http_response->getBody()->getContents());
return $data;
} catch (Exception $e) {
log_message('error', $e->getMessage());
return false;
}