# Handling Requests

The `JsonApi` class is a [PSR-15 request handler](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-15/).

Instantiate it with your **API's base path**, then pass in a PSR-7 request and you'll get back a PSR-7 response. You should catch any exceptions and pass them back into the `error` method to generate a JSON:API error document.
 
```php
use Tobyz\JsonApiServer\JsonApi;

$api = new JsonApi('/api');

/** @var Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface $request */
/** @var Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface $response */
try {
    $response = $api->handle($request);
} catch (Exception $e) {
    $response = $api->error($e);
}
```

::: tip
In Laravel, you'll need to [convert the Laravel request into a PSR-7 request](https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/requests#psr7-requests) before you can pass it into `JsonApi`. You can then return the response directly from the route or controller – the framework will automatically convert it back into a Laravel response and display it.
:::

## Authentication

You (or your framework) are responsible for performing authentication.

Often you will need to access information about the authenticated user inside of your schema – for example, when [scoping](scopes) which resources a visible within the API. An effective way to pass on this information is by setting an attribute on your Request object before passing it into the request handler.

```php
$request = $request->withAttribute('user', $user);
```

## Context

An instance of `Tobyz\JsonApi\Context` is passed into callbacks throughout your API's resource definitions – for example, when defining [scopes](scopes):

```php
use Tobyz\JsonApiServer\Context;

$type->scope(function ($query, Context $context) {
    $user = $context->getRequest()->getAttribute('user');
    
    $query->where('user_id', $user?->id);
});
```

This object contains a number of useful methods:

* `getApi(): Tobyz\JsonApi\JsonApi`  
  Get the JsonApi instance.

* `getRequest(): Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface`  
  Get the PSR-7 request instance.

* `getPath(): string`  
  Get the request path relative to the API's base path.

* `fieldRequested(string $type, string $field, bool $default = true): bool`  
  Determine whether a field has been requested in a [sparse fieldset](https://jsonapi.org/format/1.1/#fetching-sparse-fieldsets).

* `filter(string $name): ?string`  
  Get the value of a filter.

* `meta(string $name, $value): Tobyz\JsonApi\Schema\Meta`  
  Add a meta attribute to the response document.