Magento 2: How to create API rest for users CRUD

Question

I know that Magento has CLI for creating new users, but I need to do that via API rest. And extending all CRUD functionalities.

So I tried to create a new module for do that, but it's not working:

These are the 2 main files:

Api/UsersRepositoryInterface.php

namespace Gsp\Users\Api;

interface UserRepositoryInterface
{
    /**
     * Retrieve User entity by ID
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Magento\User\Model\User
     */
    public function getById($id);

    /**
     * Save User
     * @param \Magento\User\Model\User
     * @return \Magento\User\Model\User
     */
    public function save(\Magento\User\Model\User $user);
}

Model/UsersRepository.php

namespace Gsp\Users\Model;

class UserRepository implements \Gsp\Users\Api\UserRepositoryInterface
{
    /**
     * User model factory
     *
     * @var \Magento\User\Model\UserFactory
     */
    protected $userFactory;

    public function __construct(
        \Magento\User\Model\UserFactory $userFactory
    )
    {
        $this->userFactory = $userFactory;
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve User entity by ID
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Magento\User\Model\User
     */
    public function getById($id)
    {
        return $this->userFactory->create()->load($id);
    }


    /**
     * Save User
     * @param \Magento\User\Model\User
     * @return \Magento\User\Model\User
     */
    public function save(\Magento\User\Model\User $user)
    {
        die('ok');
    }

}

When I call the getById method it shows that error:

{
    "message": "Getter return type must be specified using @return annotation. See Magento\\User\\Model\\User::getFirstName()",
    "trace": "#0 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/Reflection/MethodsMap.php(163): Magento\\Framework\\Reflection\\TypeProcessor->getGetterReturnType(Object(Zend\\Code\\Reflection\\MethodReflection))\n#1 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/Reflection/MethodsMap.php(100): Magento\\Framework\\Reflection\\MethodsMap->getMethodMapViaReflection('\\\\Magento\\\\User\\\\M...')\n#2 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/Reflection/DataObjectProcessor.php(77): Magento\\Framework\\Reflection\\MethodsMap->getMethodsMap('\\\\Magento\\\\User\\\\M...')\n#3 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/Webapi/ServiceOutputProcessor.php(107): Magento\\Framework\\Reflection\\DataObjectProcessor->buildOutputDataArray(Object(Magento\\User\\Model\\User\\Interceptor), '\\\\Magento\\\\User\\\\M...')\n#4 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/Webapi/ServiceOutputProcessor.php(59): Magento\\Framework\\Webapi\\ServiceOutputProcessor->convertValue(Object(Magento\\User\\Model\\User\\Interceptor), '\\\\Magento\\\\User\\\\M...')\n#5 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/module-webapi/Controller/Rest.php(308): Magento\\Framework\\Webapi\\ServiceOutputProcessor->process(Object(Magento\\User\\Model\\User\\Interceptor), 'Gsp\\\\Users\\\\Api\\\\U...', 'getById')\n#6 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/module-webapi/Controller/Rest.php(216): Magento\\Webapi\\Controller\\Rest->processApiRequest()\n#7 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/var/generation/Magento/Webapi/Controller/Rest/Interceptor.php(37): Magento\\Webapi\\Controller\\Rest->dispatch(Object(Magento\\Framework\\App\\Request\\Http))\n#8 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/App/Http.php(135): Magento\\Webapi\\Controller\\Rest\\Interceptor->dispatch(Object(Magento\\Framework\\App\\Request\\Http))\n#9 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/vendor/magento/framework/App/Bootstrap.php(258): Magento\\Framework\\App\\Http->launch()\n#10 /opt/bitnami/apps/magento/htdocs/index.php(39): Magento\\Framework\\App\\Bootstrap->run(Object(Magento\\Framework\\App\\Http))\n#11 {main}"
}

I don't what it means. But using var_dump(get_class($this->userFactory->create()->load($id))); I figured out it's not the same class?

It showed me that: "Magento\User\Model\User\Interceptor"

So I'm not retrieving the right class? Why Interceptor?

Answer 1

First Interceptor class is the class autogenerated in order to make the Magento plugin works. (Documentation : http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.1/extension-dev-guide/plugins.html)

Then you need to use interface class in the return type because you do not know the final class implementation due to injection dependency.

So have a look in the native Magento web api interface :

vendor/magento/module-customer/Api/CustomerRepositoryInterface.php:47

/**
 * Get customer by customer ID.
 *
 * @param int $customerId
 * @return \Magento\Customer\Api\Data\CustomerInterface
 * @throws \Magento\Framework\Exception\NoSuchEntityException If customer with the specified ID does not exist.
 * @throws \Magento\Framework\Exception\LocalizedException
 */
public function getById($customerId);

So try to use this return type.

Then check the Magento 2 implementation of this function, it uses repository in order to retrieve the customer :

vendor/magento/module-customer/Model/ResourceModel/CustomerRepository.php:244

/**
 * {@inheritdoc}
 */
public function getById($customerId)
{
    $customerModel = $this->customerRegistry->retrieve($customerId);
    return $customerModel->getDataModel();
}

It should works now.

Keep in mind to use repository and interface.