How to use cURL to get jSON data and decode the data?

Question

So I have a link that returns a jSON object, and I need to have it decoded and put into variables in PHP.

URL

api.php?action=getThreads&hash=123fajwersa&node_id=4&order_by=post_date&order=desc&limit=1&grab_content&content_limit=1

This is the object that it returns

{
    "count": 1,
    "threads": {
        "38752": {
            "thread_id": 38752,
            "node_id": 4,
            "title": "The ShadyCraft Beta Launch!",
            "reply_count": 45,
            "view_count": 946,
            "user_id": 2,
            "username": "Shady",
            "post_date": 1366956695,
            "sticky": 0,
            "discussion_state": "visible",
            "discussion_open": 1,
            "discussion_type": "",
            "first_post_id": 226167,
            "first_post_likes": 7,
            "last_post_date": 1369094302,
            "last_post_id": 228226,
            "last_post_user_id": 2,
            "last_post_username": "Shady",
            "prefix_id": 19,
            "tinhte_xentag_tags": "a:4:{i:0;s:9:\"minecraft\";i:2;s:4:\"news\";i:3;s:14:\"private server\";i:1;s:10:\"shadycraft\";}",
            "content": {
                "count": 1,
                "content": {
                    "226167": {
                        "post_id": 226167,
                        "thread_id": 38752,
                        "user_id": 2,
                        "username": "Shady",
                        "post_date": 1366956695,
                        "message": "[ATTACH=full]4143[\/ATTACH]\n \nWe've completely restructured ShadyCraft, and today will be the launch of the ShadyCraft beta.\n \nCurrent Features\n[LIST]\n[*]Towns\n[*]Nations\n[*]All out wars\n[*]A live update map\n[*]No White-list\n[*]Earn Money\n[*]Griefing allowed where possible\n[\/LIST]\nThese are just some features which have a lot more things behind them. For instance, there is town and nation upkeep, tax, kingdoms, mayors, and kings.\n \nWe really wanted to have the server self-governed and this is why griefing and PvP are allowed where ever they are possible. All towns and nations cannot be griefed by other members. You can create a town and buy plots for it and expand the town as you wish.\n \n[SIZE=4]All of this is shown in the live updating map located [URL='http:\/\/50.7.6.116:8123']here[\/URL].[\/SIZE]\n \n[SIZE=4][SIZE=6]Join the Beta Now[\/SIZE][\/SIZE]\n[SIZE=6]Server-IP: 50.7.6.116[\/SIZE]\n \n \n[USER=118053]Frenchy[\/USER] and [USER=4863]Wolfbane[\/USER]",
                        "ip_id": 747429,
                        "message_state": "visible",
                        "attach_count": 1,
                        "position": 0,
                        "likes": 7,
                        "like_users": "a:5:{i:0;a:2:{s:7:\"user_id\";i:105699;s:8:\"username\";s:6:\"kvothe\";}i:1;a:2:{s:7:\"user_id\";i:146724;s:8:\"username\";s:12:\"Graveyard219\";}i:2;a:2:{s:7:\"user_id\";i:70182;s:8:\"username\";s:9:\"wmbrown18\";}i:3;a:2:{s:7:\"user_id\";i:5473;s:8:\"username\";s:9:\"Oblivious\";}i:4;a:2:{s:7:\"user_id\";i:118053;s:8:\"username\";s:7:\"Frenchy\";}}",
                        "warning_id": 0,
                        "warning_message": "",
                        "anonymous_posting_real_user_id": 0,
                        "anonymous_posting_real_username": ""
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

I am really only interested in the

"title":"The ShadyCraft Beta Launch!",  
"reply_count:"45, 
"view_count": 946,  
"user_id":2, 
"username":"Shady", 
"post_date":1366956695, 
"sticky":0, 
"discussion_state":"visible",
"discussion_open":1,

and finally the message

[ATTACH=full]4143[/ATTACH]

We've completely restructured ShadyCraft, and today will be the launch of the ShadyCraft beta.

Current Features
[LIST]
[*]Towns
[*]Nations
[*]All out wars
[*]A live update map
[*]No White-list
[*]Earn Money
[*]Griefing allowed where possible
[/LIST]
These are just some features which have a lot more things behind them. For instance, there is town and nation upkeep, tax, kingdoms, mayors, and kings.

We really wanted to have the server self-governed and this is why griefing and PvP are allowed where ever they are possible. All towns and nations cannot be griefed by other members. You can create a town and buy plots for it and expand the town as you wish.

[SIZE=4]All of this is shown in the live updating map located [URL='http://50.7.6.116:8123']here[/URL].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=4][SIZE=6]Join the Beta Now[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=6]Server-IP: 50.7.6.116[/SIZE]


[USER=118053]Frenchy[/USER] and [USER=4863]Wolfbane[/USER]

So how can I extract the jSON object and put it in to correct variables in PHP, that I can later use?

Variables like: $username, $user_id, $message, $title, $discussionState, and so on.

I just need to know how I can retrieve the jSON object, then extract the data into variables in PHP.

I am now able to get the PHP array, but I am having some troubles calling the correct values. Here is the array.

Array ( [count] => 1 [threads] => Array ( [13] => Array ( [thread_id] => 13 [node_id] => 4 [title] => Forum Integration nearly complete! [reply_count] => 0 [view_count] => 0 [user_id] => 59 [username] => Faeron [post_date] => 1369257302 [sticky] => 0 [discussion_state] => visible [discussion_open] => 1 [discussion_type] => [first_post_id] => 23 [first_post_likes] => 0 [last_post_date] => 1369257302 [last_post_id] => 23 [last_post_user_id] => 59 [last_post_username] => Faeron [prefix_id] => 1 [content] => Array ( [count] => 1 [content] => Array ( [23] => Array ( [post_id] => 23 [thread_id] => 13 [user_id] => 59 [username] => Faeron [post_date] => 1369257302 [message] => It's been quite a while since we began to integrate the phanime Forums with the main site. We have now finished the integration with the phanime Forums and the main site. You will no longer notice that there are two platforms running phanime, but instead only one. Our next step is to theme the forums to make it look like the main site! [ip_id] => 268 [message_state] => visible [attach_count] => 0 [position] => 0 [likes] => 0 [like_users] => a:0:{} [warning_id] => 0 [warning_message] => ) ) ) ) ) )

Now lets say this array was named $array then to get the first element's value "[count]" can't I just say the following: print $array["[count]"] <-- this returns an error.

What about the element that has a value as an array itself, which is the [threads] element. How do I get, perhaps the [thread_id] element's value?

score 303 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 08 '20 at 16:28

303

I think this one will answer your question :P

$url="https://.../api.php?action=getThreads&hash=123fajwersa&node_id=4&order_by=post_date&order=‌desc&limit=1&grab_content&content_limit=1";

Using cURL

//  Initiate curl
$ch = curl_init();
// Will return the response, if false it print the response
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
// Set the url
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
// Execute
$result=curl_exec($ch);
// Closing
curl_close($ch);

// Will dump a beauty json :3
var_dump(json_decode($result, true));

Using file_get_contents

$result = file_get_contents($url);
// Will dump a beauty json :3
var_dump(json_decode($result, true));

Accessing

$array["threads"][13/* thread id */]["title"/* thread key */]

And

$array["threads"][13/* thread id */]["content"/* thread key */]["content"][23/* post id */]["message" /* content key */];

edited Jan 08 '20 at 16:28

Shiny

4,945
3
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33

answered May 22 '13 at 20:47

Wesley Schleumer de Góes

6,347
2
19
27

1

I've updated the question with the small difficulty I am having working with the PHP array that is returned by jSON. Please read the bottom part of it if you can. – Maaz May 22 '13 at 21:30
Hi! I'm getting close with a similar problem thanks to your answer, but still stuck atm, do you mind taking a look? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28033267/how-to-parse-out-variables-from-a-json-var-dump-in-a-wordpress-plugin – Leon Gaban Jan 19 '15 at 20:54
After spending hours, adding the line // Disable SSL verification curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); returns the result. – kta Jul 06 '17 at 11:02

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 19 '19 at 15:21

You can Use this for Curl:

function fakeip()  
{  
    return long2ip( mt_rand(0, 65537) * mt_rand(0, 65535) );   
}  

function getdata($url,$args=false) 
{ 
    global $session; 
    $ch = curl_init(); 
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url); 
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("REMOTE_ADDR: ".fakeip(),"X-Client-IP: ".fakeip(),"Client-IP: ".fakeip(),"HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR: ".fakeip(),"X-Forwarded-For: ".fakeip())); 
    if($args) 
    { 
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1); 
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$args); 
    } 
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); 
    //curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PROXY, "127.0.0.1:8888"); 
    $result = curl_exec ($ch); 
    curl_close ($ch); 
    return $result; 
}

Then To Read Json:

$result=getdata("https://example.com");

Then :

///Deocde Json
$data = json_decode($result,true);
///Count
             $total=count($data);
             $Str='<h1>Total : '.$total.'';
             echo $Str;
//You Can Also Make In Table:
             foreach ($data as $key => $value)
              {
          echo '  <td><font  face="calibri"color="red">'.$value[type].'   </font></td><td><font  face="calibri"color="blue">'.$value[category].'   </font></td><td><font  face="calibri"color="green">'.$value[amount].'   </font></tr><tr>';

           }
           echo "</tr></table>";
           }

You Can Also Use This:

echo '<p>Name : '.$data['result']['name'].'</p>
      <img src="'.$data['result']['pic'].'"><br>';

Hope this helped.

this helped me. but I had to replace $data with $data['result'] in the foreach inputs in my use-case. — Eaweb, Oct 17 '18 at 11:10

Dory Zidon · Answer 3 · 2013-05-22T20:52:48.573

11

to get the object you do not need to use cURL (you are loading another dll into memory and have another dependency, unless you really need curl I'd stick with built in php functions), you can use one simple php file_get_contents(url) function: http://il1.php.net/manual/en/function.file-get-contents.php

$unparsed_json = file_get_contents("api.php?action=getThreads&hash=123fajwersa&node_id=4&order_by=post_date&order=desc&limit=1&grab_content&content_limit=1");

$json_object = json_decode($unparsed_json);

then json_decode() parses JSON into a PHP object, or an array if you pass true to the second parameter. http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php

For example:

$json = '{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}';

var_dump(json_decode($json));           // Object
var_dump(json_decode($json, true));     // Associative array

edited May 22 '13 at 20:52

answered May 22 '13 at 20:26

Dory Zidon

10,497
2
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39

What about the url? How do I retrieve the jSON object in the first place and set it to the $json variable? The url is: `/api.php?action=getThreads&hash=123fajwersa&node_id=4&order_by=post_date&order=desc&limit=1&grab_content&content_limit=1` Which returns the jSON object. – Maaz May 22 '13 at 20:41
1

I've updated the question with the small difficulty I am having working with the PHP array that is returned by jSON. Please read the bottom part of it if you can. – Maaz May 22 '13 at 21:30
This is incorrect. You can't pass a URL to file_get_contents()... it needs to be the filename (path). – Henrik Petterson Apr 18 '17 at 12:30
@HenrikPetterson: file_get_contents can absolutely be used to fetch a URL, not only local files. Though cURL provides more options and is probably a better option for all but the most simple use cases. Check here for more: http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-get-contents.php – ineedhelp Jun 19 '17 at 23:26

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 24 '18 at 15:05

1

you can also use

$result = curl_exec($ch);
return response()->json(json_decode($result));

edited Oct 24 '18 at 15:05

Suraj Rao

29,388
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answered Oct 24 '18 at 15:02

HeshamSalama

148
4

This seems like Laravel format. – LucianDex Dec 27 '22 at 16:58

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 22 '13 at 20:25

0

Use this function: http://br.php.net/json_decode This will automatically create PHP arrays.

answered May 22 '13 at 20:25

Henrique Barcelos

7,670
1
41
66

score -3 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 26 '18 at 10:31

-3

You can use this:

curl_setopt_array($ch, $options);
$resultado = curl_exec($ch);
$info = curl_getinfo($ch);
print_r($info["url"]);

edited Feb 26 '18 at 10:31

Bidou

7,378
9
47
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answered Feb 26 '18 at 07:33

Sergio Nava

1

How to use cURL to get jSON data and decode the data?

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