How to POST data to an API in Laravel

A guide on how to use Laravel to send POST requests to an external or internal API. Learn how to easily and securely send data using Laravel's built-in HTTP Client.

In this article, we will explore how to send data to an API using the POST method in Laravel. Laravel provides multiple approaches, but we will focus on using the built-in HTTP Client, available from Laravel 7.x onwards, to send HTTP POST requests in a simple and efficient way.

PHP Laravel Code

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

class ApiController extends Controller
{
    public function sendData()
    {
        // Data to be sent to the API
        $data = [
            'name' => 'John Doe',
            'email' => '[email protected]',
            'message' => 'Hello, this is a test message!'
        ];

        // Sending POST request to the API
        $response = Http::post('https://example.com/api/receive-data', $data);

        // Checking the response from the API
        if ($response->successful()) {
            return response()->json(['status' => 'success', 'message' => 'Data sent successfully!']);
        } else {
            return response()->json(['status' => 'error', 'message' => 'Failed to send data.']);
        }
    }
}

Detailed explanation:

1. use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;: Imports Laravel's HTTP Client.
2. class ApiController extends Controller: Defines a controller to contain the data sending logic.
3. public function sendData(): Method for sending POST data.
4. $data = [...]: Defines the data to be sent to the API.
5. Http::post('https://example.com/api/receive-data', $data);: Sends the POST request to the API with the data.
6. if ($response->successful()) {...}: Checks if the response from the API is successful.
7. return response()->json([...]): Returns a JSON response to the client.

System requirements:

• Laravel 7.x or later.

How to install the libraries needed to run the above PHP code:

• No additional libraries are required as the HTTP Client is built into Laravel 7.x and above.

Tips:

• When sending requests to an API, always handle error scenarios like time-outs, 404 errors, or 500 errors.
• Laravel's HTTP Client also supports features like sending authorization tokens or configuring custom headers, which is useful for secured APIs.

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