Atemping to use cURL to parse JSON -- var_dump returning NULL

Question

I am attempting to parse the JSON from the URL bellow. However when I run the var_dump(json_decode($result, true)) it returns NULL. But when I copy the URL from the echo $item_url it returns the proper JSON.

Another issue I have read is the var_dump(json_decode($result, true)); is returning a string with spaces and that could be an issue

$item_url = "http://steamcommunity.com/market/priceoverview/?country=US&currency=1&appid=730&market_hash_name=" . $rgDescriptions->market_hash_name;

echo $item_url;

$curl_handle = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, urlencode($item_url));
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, 'Your application name');
$result = curl_exec($curl_handle);
curl_close($curl_handle);

var_dump(json_decode($result, true));

Bellow is an example of a URL that may get passed.

http://steamcommunity.com/market/priceoverview/?country=US&currency=1&appid=730&market_hash_name=AK-47%20|%20Aquamarine%20Revenge%20(Minimal%20Wear)

Check this answer to similar issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16700960/how-to-use-curl-to-get-json-data-and-decode-the-data — spaniard, Mar 15 '16 at 04:38
Here 2nd parameter may be issue; try this var_dump(json_decode($result)); — itzmukeshy7, Mar 15 '16 at 04:40

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 15 '16 at 04:42

its working for me after changing a line in your code. I think you need to encode $rgDescriptions->market_hash_name only not whole url.

Change

curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, urlencode($item_url));

TO

curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, $item_url);

Full Code

$item_url = "http://steamcommunity.com/market/priceoverview/?country=US&currency=1&appid=730&market_hash_name=AK-47%20|%20Aquamarine%20Revenge%20(Minimal%20Wear)";

$curl_handle = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, $item_url);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, 'Your application name');
$result = curl_exec($curl_handle);
curl_close($curl_handle);

var_dump(json_decode($result, true));

Output:

array(4) {
  ["success"]=>
  bool(true)
  ["lowest_price"]=>
  string(6) "$26.38"
  ["volume"]=>
  string(3) "133"
  ["median_price"]=>
  string(6) "$26.35"
}

You are right, I needed to encode '$rgDescriptions->market_hash_name' not the whole URL. Thanks a bunch. — Eric Goncalves, Mar 15 '16 at 04:49

Atemping to use cURL to parse JSON -- var_dump returning NULL

1 Answers1