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

Aug 15, 2024 • 6 minute read

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your product management workflow? Let's dive into building a Productboard API integration using PHP. This guide will walk you through the process, assuming you're already familiar with PHP and API integrations. We'll keep things concise and focused on the good stuff.

Prerequisites

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

A PHP environment (7.4+ recommended)
Composer installed
Productboard API credentials (if you don't have these, hop over to your Productboard account and generate them)

Setting up the project

Let's get our project off the ground:

mkdir productboard-integration
cd productboard-integration
composer init
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

Authentication

First things first, let's authenticate:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use GuzzleHttp\Client;

$client = new Client([
    'base_uri' => 'https://api.productboard.com',
    'headers' => [
        'Authorization' => 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN',
        'X-Version' => '1'
    ]
]);

Pro tip: Store your access token securely, and implement a refresh mechanism if you're using OAuth.

Making API requests

Now, let's make some requests:

// GET request
$response = $client->get('/features');
$features = json_decode($response->getBody(), true);

// POST request
$response = $client->post('/notes', [
    'json' => [
        'title' => 'New feature idea',
        'content' => 'This feature will revolutionize our product!'
    ]
]);

Remember to wrap these in try-catch blocks to handle any exceptions gracefully.

Implementing key Productboard API endpoints

Let's implement some crucial endpoints:

// Fetch features
function getFeatures($client) {
    $response = $client->get('/features');
    return json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
}

// Create a note
function createNote($client, $title, $content) {
    $response = $client->post('/notes', [
        'json' => [
            'title' => $title,
            'content' => $content
        ]
    ]);
    return json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
}

// Update feature properties
function updateFeature($client, $featureId, $properties) {
    $response = $client->patch("/features/{$featureId}", [
        'json' => $properties
    ]);
    return json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
}

Data processing and storage

Once you've got your data, you'll want to process and store it:

$features = getFeatures($client);

foreach ($features as $feature) {
    // Process and store each feature
    // This could be inserting into a database, updating a cache, etc.
}

Building a simple user interface (optional)

If you're feeling fancy, why not add a simple UI? Here's a quick example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
    <h1>Productboard Features</h1>
    <ul>
    <?php foreach ($features as $feature): ?>
        <li><?= htmlspecialchars($feature['name']) ?></li>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
    </ul>
</body>
</html>

Error handling and logging

Don't forget to implement robust error handling:

try {
    $features = getFeatures($client);
} catch (\GuzzleHttp\Exception\RequestException $e) {
    error_log('API request failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
    // Handle the error appropriately
}

Testing the integration

Always test your code! Here's a simple PHPUnit test to get you started:

use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;

class ProductboardIntegrationTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testGetFeatures()
    {
        $client = $this->createMock(Client::class);
        $client->method('get')
               ->willReturn(new Response(200, [], json_encode(['name' => 'Test Feature'])));

        $features = getFeatures($client);
        $this->assertIsArray($features);
        $this->assertArrayHasKey('name', $features[0]);
    }
}

Best practices and optimization

Remember to respect rate limits and implement caching where appropriate. For example:

use Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\FilesystemAdapter;

$cache = new FilesystemAdapter();

$featuresItem = $cache->getItem('productboard.features');
if (!$featuresItem->isHit()) {
    $features = getFeatures($client);
    $featuresItem->set($features);
    $featuresItem->expiresAfter(3600); // Cache for 1 hour
    $cache->save($featuresItem);
} else {
    $features = $featuresItem->get();
}

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've now got a solid foundation for your Productboard API integration. Remember, this is just the beginning - there's so much more you can do with the Productboard API. Why not try integrating it with your existing systems or building a custom dashboard?

Keep exploring, keep building, and most importantly, keep making awesome products! Happy coding!