Step by Step Guide to Building a MailerLite API Integration in PHP

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your PHP project with some email marketing magic? Let's dive into integrating the MailerLite API. This powerhouse tool will let you manage subscribers, send campaigns, and automate your email marketing efforts with ease.

Prerequisites

Before we jump in, make sure you've got:

• PHP 7.4 or higher (come on, you're not still using 5.6, right?)
• Composer installed (because who has time for manual dependency management?)
• A MailerLite API key (grab one from your account settings if you haven't already)

Setting up the project

Let's get this show on the road:

1. Fire up your terminal and create a new project directory:

   mkdir mailerlite-integration && cd mailerlite-integration
   

2. Install the MailerLite PHP SDK:

   composer require mailerlite/mailerlite-api-v2-php-sdk
   

Initializing the MailerLite client

Time to get our hands dirty with some code:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use MailerLite\MailerLite;

$apiKey = 'your_api_key_here';
$mailerLite = new MailerLite($apiKey);

Basic API operations

Now for the fun part – let's play with some data!

Retrieving subscriber groups

$groups = $mailerLite->groups()->get();
foreach ($groups as $group) {
    echo $group->name . "\n";
}

Adding a new subscriber

$subscriber = $mailerLite->subscribers()->create([
    'email' => '[email protected]',
    'name' => 'Awesome Developer'
]);

Updating subscriber information

$mailerLite->subscribers()->update($subscriber->id, [
    'name' => 'Even More Awesome Developer'
]);

Removing a subscriber

$mailerLite->subscribers()->delete($subscriber->id);

Advanced operations

Ready to level up? Let's tackle some more complex tasks.

Creating and sending campaigns

$campaign = $mailerLite->campaigns()->create([
    'subject' => 'Check out our cool API integration!',
    'type' => 'regular',
    'groups' => [1, 2, 3],
    'from' => '[email protected]',
    'from_name' => 'Your Name',
    'language' => 'en'
]);

$mailerLite->campaigns()->send($campaign->id);

Managing automations

$automations = $mailerLite->automations()->get();
foreach ($automations as $automation) {
    echo $automation->name . " - " . $automation->status . "\n";
}

Handling webhooks

$webhook = $mailerLite->webhooks()->create([
    'url' => 'https://yourdomain.com/webhook',
    'event' => 'subscriber.create'
]);

Error handling and best practices

Don't let those pesky errors catch you off guard:

try {
    $result = $mailerLite->subscribers()->get();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    error_log('MailerLite API error: ' . $e->getMessage());
}

And remember, play nice with rate limits. Nobody likes a spammer!

Testing the integration

Test, test, and test again! Here's a quick unit test example:

public function testAddSubscriber()
{
    $subscriber = $this->mailerLite->subscribers()->create([
        'email' => '[email protected]',
        'name' => 'Test User'
    ]);
    $this->assertNotNull($subscriber->id);
}

Deployment considerations

When you're ready to go live:

1. Use environment variables for your API key. No hardcoding secrets!
2. Implement caching where possible to reduce API calls and improve performance.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You're now armed and dangerous with MailerLite API integration skills. Remember, the official MailerLite API docs are your best friend for diving deeper.

Now go forth and conquer those email marketing challenges. You've got this! 🚀