Magento 2: Creating configurable product using the REST API

Question

In order to create configurable product I need to create configurable product, virtual product and finally connect them.

Example of json request got from here: How do I create a configurable product using the REST API v2?

I am wondering why do I need this section below in configurable product?

 "configurable_product_options":[
 {
 "attribute__id":"193",
 "label":"Colour",
 "position":0,
 "values":[
 {
 "value_index":340
 },
 {
 "value_index":341
 }
 ],

I noticed that this section is required in able to connect virtual product to configurable connect later. But values has no meaning.

In virtual product I can assign any value I want. What is the purpose of this values?

Answer 1

You can use this example to create a configurable product.

{
 "product": {
 "sku": "MS-Lime",
 "name": "Lime Tee",
 "attribute_set_id": 9,
 "status": 1,
 "visibility": 4,
 "type_id": "configurable",
 "weight": "0.6",
 "extension_attributes": {
 "category_links": [
 {
 "position": 0,
 "category_id": "11"
 },
 {
 "position": 1,
 "category_id": "12"
 },
 {
 "position": 2,
 "category_id": "16"
 }
 ]
 },
 "custom_attributes": [
 {
 "attribute_code": "description",
 "value": "The Dime Tee is soft, comfortable and durable. You will love the way you look in this tailored tee shirt."
 },
 {
 "attribute_code": "tax_class_id",
 "value": "2"
 },
 {
 "attribute_code": "material",
 "value": "148"
 },
 {
 "attribute_code": "pattern",
 "value": "196"
 },
 {
 "attribute_code": "color",
 "value": "52"
 }
 ]
 }
}

As you can see I am not using configurable_product_options in my body. This is not the mandatory field. You can totally skip this.

Answer 2

Please try with below code, I hope its work for you.

created a simple product with 'color' attribute and simple product ids are 1011,1012 & 1013.

<?php
/********* Create Configurable Product By Rest API *********/
try {
 $url = "http://siteurl.com";
 $apiusername = 'apiusername';
 $apipassword = 'apipassword';
 $userData = array("username" => $apiusername, "password" => $apipassword);
 $ch = curl_init($url."/rest/V1/integration/admin/token");
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "POST");
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($userData));
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("Content-Type: application/json", "Content-Lenght: " . strlen(json_encode($userData))));
 $token = curl_exec($ch);
 $product_data= '{
 "product": {
 "id": 0,
 "sku": "config_1",
 "name": "Config Product",
 "attributeSetId": 4,
 "price": 20,
 "status": 1,
 "visibility": 4,
 "typeId": "configurable",
 "createdAt": "string",
 "updatedAt": "string",
 "weight": 0.8,
 "extensionAttributes": {
 "stockItem": {
 "isInStock": true
 },
 "configurableProductLinks": [1011,1012,1013],
 "configurableProductOptions": [
 {
 "id": 0,
 "attributeId": "93",
 "label": "Color",
 "position": 0,
 "isUseDefault": true,
 "values": [
 {
 "valueIndex": 11
 },
 {
 "valueIndex": 12
 },
 {
 "valueIndex": 13
 }
 ]
 }
 ] 
 }
 }
 }';
 $ch = curl_init($url."/rest/V1/products");
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "POST");
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$product_data);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("Content-Type: application/json", "Authorization: Bearer " . json_decode($token)));
 $result = curl_exec($ch);
 }catch(Exception $e){
 echo $e->getMessage();
 }
 var_dump($result);
?>