# REST Admin API
REST Admin API lets you build apps and other integrations for the Shopify admin using REST. With the API, you can create apps that offer functionality at every stage of a store's operation, including shipping, fulfillment, and product management.
You can read our [REST Admin API](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin/getting-started#rest-admin-api) documentation and [REST Admin API reference](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-rest) for more information.
## Making your first REST request
REST Admin API endpoints are organized by [resource](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin/rest/reference#selecting-apis-for-your-app) . You'll need to use different API endpoints depending on the service that your app provides. There are two different ways of doing that with this library:
- [REST resources](#rest-resources)
- [REST client](#rest-client)
### REST resources
REST resources are objects that represent the REST endpoints in the Admin API. This library provides classes for the endpoints in all supported versions of the API. We don't provide classes for the `unstable` version because it may change at any point, which would cause the resource classes to become outdated.
The resource classes will provide methods for all endpoints described in [the REST reference docs](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-rest). Please see the references for how to use a specific resource.
### REST client
The REST client uses `get`, `post`, `put`, and `delete` requests to retrieve, create, update, and delete resources respectively.
| Parameter | Type | Required? | Default Value | Notes |
| :-------- | :-------------- | :-------: | :--------------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| path | string | Yes | | The requested API endpoint path. This can be one of two formats:
- The path starting after the `/admin/api/{version}/` prefix, such as `'products'`, which executes `/admin/api/{version}/products.json`
- The full path, such as `/admin/oauth/access_scopes.json`
|
| body | string or array | No | null | Only `post`, and `put` methods can have body |
| headers | array | No | [] | Any extra headers to send along with the request |
| query | array | No | [] | Query parameters as an associative array |
| tries | int | No | null | How many times to attempt the request |
| dataType | No | No | `DATA_TYPE_JSON` | Only `post`, and `put` methods can have body |
In the following example we will retrieve a list of products from a shop using `Shopify\Clients\Rest` class.
```php
use Shopify\Clients\Rest;
$client = new Rest($session->getShop(), $session->getAccessToken());
$response = $client->get(path: 'products');
```
This request returns an instance of `Shopify\Clients\RestResponse`. The response object includes response `statusCode`, `body`, `headers`, and pagination information. To access the response attributes you can use `getStatusCode`, `getBody` and `getHeaders` respectively. There is also a convenience method `getDecodedBody` that will give you the JSON decoded associative array of the response body.
## Pagination
REST endpoints support cursor-based pagination. When you send a request to a REST endpoint that supports cursor-based pagination, the response body returns the first page of results, and a response header returns links to the next page, and the previous page of results (if applicable). For more information check [Make paginated requests to the REST Admin API](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/pagination-rest).
`Shopify\Clients\Rest` helps you manage pagination by giving you the information you need. The response object of a `get` operation includes pagination information. To retrieve the pagination information call `$result->getPageInfo()`.
You can serialize the `pageInfo` and save it between requests to be able to access the next or previous page if present.
```php
$serializedPageInfo = serialize($result->getPageInfo());
```
To get the next page.
```php
$pageInfo = unserialize($serializedPageInfo);
$result = $client->get(path: 'products', query: $pageInfo->getNextPageQuery());
```
PageInfo gives you some convenience methods to determine whether there is there are more pages.
| method | Return type | Notes |
| :--------------------: | :---------: | :----------------------------- |
| hasNextPage() | bool | false if there is no more page |
| hasPreviousPage() | bool | false if there is no more page |
| getNextPageQuery() | array | Query to get the next page |
| getPreviousPageQuery() | array | Query to get the previous page |