Getting started

project_folder <- dirname(getwd())
path_to_env <- file.path(project_folder, ".env")
readRenviron(path_to_env)
api_base_url <- "https://restful-booker.herokuapp.com/"
auth_token <- Sys.getenv("AUTH_TOKEN")
headers <- list("Accept" = "application/json", "Content-type" = "application/json")

Note (2026): This vignette uses Restful Booker, a third-party sandbox API. All chunks that configure or call the sandbox are marked eval = FALSE, so documentation builds do not make external requests or create, retrieve, or delete sandbox records. Run the examples interactively only if you accept responsibility for their effects on that service.

Let’s instantiate the API client

booking_client <- httpeasyrest::HttpRestClient$new(
  base_url = api_base_url,
  headers = headers,
  token = auth_token
)

Get all booking IDS as a DATAFRAME

api_data <- booking_client$get_dataframe(end_point = "booking")
head(api_data$http_resp)

Get all bookings IDS as a JSON object

api_data <- booking_client$get_object(end_point = "booking")
head(api_data$http_resp)

Get single specific booking record as JSON object

Notice that this specific API maps the id identifying the record in the URL itself, rather than as a query string

booking_id <- api_data$http_resp[[1]]$bookingid
api_data <- booking_client$get_object(end_point = paste0("booking/", booking_id))
api_data$http_resp

Create a single booking object afresh

Let’s create a unique name that we can confidently search for it afterwards ensuring that is unique, and therefore its fetching is not down to luck - recall this API is used by many people.

unique_name <- stringi::stri_rand_strings(1, 12)
data <- list(
  firstname = unique_name,
  lastname = "Jimenez",
  totalprice = 111,
  depositpaid = TRUE,
  bookingdates = list(
    checkin = "2018-01-01",
    checkout = "2019-01-01"
  ),
  additionalneeds = "Breakfast"
)
api_data <- booking_client$post_object(end_point = "booking", data)
testit::assert(isTRUE(api_data$success))
api_data$http_resp

Let’s ensure that such object was indeed sent to the API successfully.

end_point <- paste0("booking/", api_data$http_resp$bookingid)
inserted_booking <- booking_client$get_object(end_point = end_point)
testit::assert(inserted_booking$http_resp$firstname == unique_name)
inserted_booking$http_resp

Delete a single booking object

Delete the booking created in the previous example by appending its identifier to the booking endpoint.

end_point <- "booking/"
deleted_booking <- booking_client$delete_object(
  end_point = end_point,
  field = api_data$http_resp$bookingid
)
deleted_booking