Adding ability to only accept AJAX requests

Author: dfreerksen

application/config/rest.php

@@ -242,5 +242,20 @@
 */
 $config['rest_ignore_http_accept'] = FALSE;
 
+/*
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+| REST AJAX Only
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+|
+| Set to TRUE to only allow AJAX requests. If TRUE and the request is not 
+| coming from AJAX, a 505 response with the error message "Only AJAX 
+| requests are accepted." will be returned. This is good for production 
+| environments. Set to FALSE to also accept HTTP requests. 
+|
+|	FALSE
+|
+*/
+$config['rest_ajax_only'] = FALSE;
+
 /* End of file config.php */
 /* Location: ./system/application/config/rest.php */

application/libraries/REST_Controller.php

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public function __construct()
 
 		// Lets grab the config and get ready to party
 		$this->load->config('rest');
-
+		
 		// How is this request being made? POST, DELETE, GET, PUT?
 		$this->request->method = $this->_detect_method();
 
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ public function __construct()
 		{
 			$this->_allow = $this->_detect_api_key();
 		}
+		
+		// only allow ajax requests
+		if( ! $this->input->is_ajax_request() AND config_item('rest_ajax_only') )
+		{
+			$this->response( array('error' => 'Only AJAX requests are accepted.'), 505 );
+		}
 	}
 
 	/*

application/views/welcome_message.php

@@ -54,12 +54,36 @@
 	<li><a href="<?php echo site_url('api/example/users/format/csv');?>">Users</a> - get it in CSV</li>
 	<li><a href="<?php echo site_url('api/example/user/id/1');?>">User #1</a> - defaulting to XML</li>
 	<li><a href="<?php echo site_url('api/example/user/id/1/format/json');?>">User #1</a> - get it in JSON</li>
+	<li><a id="ajax" href="<?php echo site_url('api/example/users/format/json');?>">Users</a> - get it in JSON (AJAX request)</li>
 </ul>
 
 <p>If you are exploring CodeIgniter for the very first time, you should start by reading the <a href="user_guide/">User Guide</a>.</p>
 
-
 <p><br />Page rendered in {elapsed_time} seconds</p>
 
+<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
+<script type="text/javascript">
+$(function(){
+	// Bind a click event to the 'ajax' object id
+	$("#ajax").bind("click", function( evt ){
+		// Javascript needs totake over. So stop the browser from redirecting the page
+		evt.preventDefault();
+		// AJAX request to get the data
+		$.ajax({
+			// URL from the link that was clicked on
+			url: $(this).attr("href"),
+			// Success function. the 'data' parameter is an array of objects that can be looped over
+			success: function(data, textStatus, jqXHR){
+				alert('Successful AJAX request!');
+			}, 
+			// Failed to load request. This could be caused by any number of problems like server issues, bad links, etc. 
+			error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown){
+				alert('Oh no! A problem with the AJAX request!');
+			}
+		});
+	});
+});
+</script>
+
 </body>
 </html>