Php and connecting to an API

Question

This may be a very basic question, as I am fairly new to php programming. Hopefully I can learn something about my particular issue.

I am trying to build a simple web application with php that will interface with the BBYOpen API provided by Best Buy. The application need to be able to accept a zipcode and distance radius in order to retrieve Best Buy store locations within the parameters.

Now BBYOpen provides queries for developers, which I have managed to find the one I would need to use.

My problem, being new to php, is:

How exactly can I build a simple HTML page that will accept user input (in the form of a zipcode and distance) and tie that into a php script that can communicate with BBYOpen to retrieve the data.
BBYOpen provides extensive documentation for querying and the information that I can feasible return, but I am lost on how to get my php script to connect to BBYOpen. I know that in order to connect I need to utilize their Remix web service, but I am also at a loss at how I would go about doing that.

Any help or solutions would be appreciated, even in a generic code with comments.

Cheers

Your question is too broad. I have the impression that you first need to learn about HTML forms and basic interaction between browser and server. When you've gatherer the skills to build e.g. a Fahrenheit/Celsius converter, you can concentrate on the API. — Álvaro González
– Álvaro González, Commented Apr 21, 2014 at 12:19
Alvaro, I have the basic understanding of creating a <Form> that will allow user input such as zipcodes. My issue is how exactly I would take that input and bringing it over to a php script so that it would be placed into the proper place in the query. — MBlack
– MBlack, Commented Apr 21, 2014 at 13:42

Burhan Çetin · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-21 12:24:41Z

1

    $ch = curl_init('http://api.remix.bestbuy.com/v1/products?apiKey=apiKey&format=json');
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(
            'Content-Type: application/json',)
    );

    $result = curl_exec($ch);
    $header_size = curl_getinfo($ch,CURLINFO_HEADER_SIZE);
    $header = substr($result, 0, $header_size);
    $body = substr( $result, $header_size );
    curl_close($ch);

    echo "<pre>";
    print_r(json_decode($body));

end wtih this you can get the data;

$json = file_get_contents('php://input');
$data = json_decode($json, true);

edited Apr 21, 2014 at 12:24

answered Apr 21, 2014 at 12:15

Burhan Çetin

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1 Comment

MBlack Over a year ago

Thank you Burhan. To clarify, that is the script that would be placed in the php tags, correct?

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