Class to communicate with an API

EBSController.php

<?php

namespace App\Controller\Admin;

use Cake\ORM\TableRegistry;
use Cake\Core\Configure;
use App\Exceptions\EBSCommunicationFailureException;
use App\Exceptions\UnauthorisedHostException;
use App\Controller\Admin\AdminController;
use App\Utility\CurlAdapter;
use App\Utility\Storage\EBSMatches;

class EBSController extends AdminController {

    private $authToken;

    private $application;

    public function initialize()
    {
        parent::initialize();
        $this->application = $this->getApplicationEntity();
        $this->authToken = $this->requestAuthToken();
    }

    public function getEBSMatches()
    {
        $this->authoriseAJAXRequest();

        $matches = new EBSMatches();
        $matches->setMatched(
            $this->getFuzzyMatches([
                'studentID'     => ['value' => $this->application->studentID,   'type' => 'int'],
                'firstname'     => ['value' => $this->application->firstname,   'type' => 'string'],
                'lastname'      => ['value' => $this->application->lastname,    'type' => 'string'],
                'middlenames'   => ['value' => $this->application->middlenames, 'type' => 'string'],
                'dob'           => ['value' => $this->application->dob,         'type' => 'string'],
                'postcode'      => ['value' => $this->application->postcode,    'type' => 'string']
            ])
        );

        $matches->setUsers(
            $this->getUsersFromMatched($matches->getMatched())
        );

        $this->set('users', $matches->getJsonData());
        $this->set('_serialize', ['users']);
    }

    private function authoriseAJAXRequest()
    {
        $protocol = $this->request->is('ssl') ? 'https://' : 'http://'; 
        $requestURL = $protocol.$this->request->env('http_host');

        if (!in_array($requestURL, Configure::read('App.ajaxHosts'))) {
            throw new UnauthorisedHostException("Host $requestURL is not authorised");
        }

        return true;
    }

    private function getApplicationEntity()
    {
        $applications = $this->loadModel('Applications');
        if (isset($this->request->params['pass'])) {
            return $applications->get($this->request->params['pass'][0]);
        }

        throw new \Exception('Missing ID parameter');
    }

    private function requestAuthToken()
    {
        $response = $this->EBSServerRequest(
            Configure::read('ebs.api.auth'),
            null,
            Configure::read('ebs.username').':'.Configure::read('ebs.password')
        );

        return $response->Token;       
    }

    private function getFuzzyMatches($data)
    {
        foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
            $data[$key] = $this->formatDataForEBS($value['value'], $value['type']);
        }

        $response = $this->EBSServerRequest(
            sprintf(Configure::read('ebs.api.fuzzy'),
                $data['studentid'],
                $data['firstname'],
                $data['lastname'],
                $data['middlenames'],
                $data['dob'],
                $data['postcode']
            ),
            "Authorization: $this->authToken",
            null
        );

        return $response->FUZZY_MATCH;
    }

    private function getUsersFromMatched($matches)
    {
        $users = array();
        foreach ($matches as $match) {
            $user = $this->EBSServerRequest(
                sprintf(
                    Configure::read('ebs.api.student'), 
                    $this->formatDataForEBS($match->PERSON_CODE, 'int')
                ),
                "Authorization: $this->authToken"
            );

            if (empty($user)) {
                continue;
            }
            
            $person = $user->People[0];
            $person->formattedDOB = $this->formatDOB($person->DATE_OF_BIRTH);
            $person->genderID = $this->getGenderID($person->GENDER);
            $person->nationalityID = $this->getNationalityID($person->NATIONALITY);

            $users[] = $person;
        }

        return $users;
    }

    private function getGenderID($gender)
    {
        $genders = $this->loadModel('Genders');

        $gender = $genders->find('all')
            ->where([
                'Genders.name' => $gender, 
                'Genders.acadyear' => $this->application->acadyear
            ])
            ->first();

        if (isset($gender)) {
            return $gender->code;
        }

        return null;
    }

    private function getNationalityID($nationality)
    {
        $nationalities = $this->loadModel('Nationalities');

        $nationality = $nationalities->find('all')
            ->where([
                'Nationalities.name' => $nationality, 
                'Nationalities.acadyear' => $this->application->acadyear
            ])
            ->first();

        if (isset($nationality)) {
            return $nationality->code;
        }

        return null;
    }

    private function formatDOB($date = null) 
    {
        if (is_null($date)) {
            return false;
        }

        $dateParts = explode('/', $date);

        if (count($dateParts) !== 3) {
            return false;
        }

        $date = array();
        $date['day'] = $dateParts[0];
        $date['month'] = $dateParts[1];
        $date['year'] = $dateParts[2];

        return $date;
    }

    private function formatDataForEBS($data, $type)
    {
        if (empty($data)) {
            if ($type == 'int') {
                return 0;
            }
            return '"1"';
        }

        return urlencode($data);
    }

    private function EBSServerRequest($url, $header = null, $password = null)
    {
        $headers = ['Accept: application/json'];
        if (isset($header)) {
            $headers[] = $header;
        }

        $url = Configure::read('ebs.url').$url;
        $curl = new CurlAdapter();
        $response = $curl->request($url, $headers, $password);

        if (!$response = json_decode($response)) {
            throw new EBSCommunicationFailureException("No response from $url");
        }

        return $response;     
    }
}