UK Postcode Search

[billy_111]

Hi,

 

I don't know how how difficult this is but i need to create a postcode search on the following site:

 

http://www.babiesinthecity.co.uk/sea...ton=&search=M1

What you can see here is a set of "Reviews" which are being pulled out of a database. Each review has a postcode.

 

Now what i need to show on this page is the distance the inputted postcode which is "M1" is to each review.

 

I know i need an API, and i looked into http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/directions/#XML

 

The site is coded in PHP, but i don't quite know how or where to begin? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Thanks

[kickstart]

Hi

 

You can get lists of postcodes and grid refernences. Full details lists are expensive but I think you can find free copies linking partial postcodes to grid references (depends how accurate you want it to be).

 

You could possibly do this in javascript but it would seem better to do it on the database when you extract the details for the review.

 

All the best

 

Keith

[billy_111]

Thanks!

 

I was actually trying to get the following code to work:

 

    public function LoadXml($origin, $destination){

        $xml = simplexml_load_file("http://maps.google.com/maps/api/directions/xml?origin=".$origin."&destination=".$destination."&sensor=false");
        
        foreach ($xml->xpath('//distance') as $distance):
            $lastvalue = $distance->value;
        endforeach;

        $total = $lastvalue * 0.00062137119;
        $total = number_format($total, 2);
        
        return $total;
    }

 

I call the method from the front end like this;

 

                                $review = Review::searchAllReviewsByTitlePoscodeAndAddress();
			while($row = mysql_fetch_array($review)){ 
                                             $pcode = PostcodeSearch::LoadXML($_GET['search'], $row['postcode']);
                                       }

 

But it gives me an error saying it can't recognize "$lastvalue"..

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks