Codeigniter, Restful API & How to use Keys

Question

I am using Phil Sturgeon's & Chris Kacerguis Restful server (visit here https://github.com/chriskacerguis/codeigniter-restserver) and have a general question about the use of API KEYS. I am very new to APIs and the concepts.

How do KEYS work? There is a table called KEYS defined as follows:

| Default table schema:
|   CREATE TABLE `keys` (
|       `id` INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
|       `user_id` INT(11) NOT NULL,
|       `key` VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
|       `level` INT(2) NOT NULL,
|       `ignore_limits` TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
|       `is_private_key` TINYINT(1)  NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
|       `ip_addresses` TEXT NULL DEFAULT NULL,
|       `date_created` INT(11) NOT NULL,
|       PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
|   ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

There are methods in a class called KEYS as follows:

index_put() // key created.  builds a new key.
index_delete() // Remove a key from the database to stop it working.
level_post() // Update Key. Change the level.
suspend_post() // Update Key.  Change the level.
regenerate_post() //   Regenerate key.  Remove a key from the database to stop it working.

As this package is not well documented and I am new to API, how does above work? For example, do I generate 1 key and insert it to the db permanently. Why is there a delete methods?

From my readings, it sounds like I generate an initial X-API-KEY for the app and then when the client uses a resource I would swap the X-API-KEY for another key using the KEYS class. I would delete it, too, but when? ... or am I all screwed up in my understanding?

Answer 1

这里有很多好的问题。

  

“ KEYS如何工作？”

RESTful API服务可以为许多不同的用户提供服务，因此API密钥是用于授予对REST API的访问权限的单个密钥。这样，服务管理员可以授予或撤消对不同用户的访问权限，或修改授予每个用户的权限。

  

“为什么有删除方法？”

这是为了撤销对特定密钥的API访问。使用此功能可能有多种原因。 API用户可能违反了服务条款，或者如果它是一项付费服务​​，则他们的订阅已终止或被撤销。它允许管理员取消用户对API服务的访问。这也应该回答您的“何时？”问题。