JSON API PHP Array Help

[bmwhite4]

I am trying to pull movie reviews from the USA Times.  I am still a newbie at PHP and this is driving me crazy.  I have been working this for more than a week now and can not figure it out.  

Any suggestions would be great.

 

I am able to connect, pull the data, and do the

 

 

 

 

$curl = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $apiRequest);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    $cresult = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    $cdata = json_decode($cresult, true);
   
    echo ("curl results:"),'<br />';
    echo $cresult;
    echo ("end curl"),'<br />';

 

This returns the following:

curl results:
{"APIParameters":{"Count":"1","MinimumRating":"","MaximumRating":"","Actor":"","Movie":"","Director":"","MPAARating":"","Year":""},"Found":1,"Movies":null,"Actors":null,"Directors":null,"MovieReviews":[{"MovieName":"Snitch","ActorName":"Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Benjamin Bratt","ReleaseDate":"","Rating":"3","Director":"Ric Roman Waugh","Distributor":"Summit Entertainment","MPAARating":"Rated PG-13","Reviewer":"Claudia Puig","Brief":null,"Review":"\u003cp\u003eDrama and suspense fuel a surprisingly effective thriller, more than car chases and action.\u003c/p\u003e","ReviewDate":"2/21/2013 6:43:51 PM","WebUrl":"http://apidata.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/02/21/snitch-review/1921585/?kjnd=JbPObtXsOdWL9gAh55Q6rHUAwsnktpji2GmaoiSpssYpIbvC7pn8S4POyQMm5y5E-4a605af0-b70c-425d-be7a-bf6e6332fc3e_YPNGs3E%2FdTm%2Bx6eBoZ2UH0rq6YrNqBght%2Bd0UMQH9YiS5EWn%2FTJD8rKl%2FRltfQrL","Id":850575}]}end curl

 

 

Then to display the actual data from the API:

 

if ($query != 0) {
        echo '<h2 class="mainHeading">Results of your search for <strong>'.$query.'</strong> (Showing '.$query.' out of a possible '.$query.' matches)</h2>'."\n";
        echo '<ol>'."\n";
        
        foreach($cdata['APIParameters'] as $item){
        $movien = (string)$item['MovieName'];
        echo $movien;
        var_dump($item['Movie'].'<br />');

 

         }
        echo '</ol>'."\n";
        echo '<p class="control"><a href="'.basename(__FILE__).'" class="refresh">Reset the page</a></p>'."\n";
        $i = $i + 1;
    } else {
        echo '<h2 class="mainHeading">No results for <strong>'.$query.'</strong>.</h2>'."\n";
        echo '<p class="control"><a href="'.basename(__FILE__).'" class="refresh">Reset the page</a></p>'."\n";
    }

 

 

This gives me the following errors:

Results of your search for 1 (Showing 1 out of a possible 1 matches)

Warning: Illegal string offset 'MovieName' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 173
1
Warning: Illegal string offset 'Movie' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 175
string(7) "1
"
Warning: Illegal string offset 'MovieName' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 173

Notice: Uninitialized string offset: 0 in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 173

Warning: Illegal string offset 'Movie' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 175

Notice: Uninitialized string offset: 0 in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 175
string(6) "
"
Warning: Illegal string offset 'MovieName' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 173

[AyKay47]

If you output:

 

 

echo "<pre>";
print_r($cdata);
echo "</pre>";

 

You will get a better idea of the array structure.

[bmwhite4]

OK, did that and I get:

 

Array ( [APIParameters] => Array ( [Count] => 1 [MinimumRating] => [MaximumRating] => [Actor] => [Movie] => [Director] => [MPAARating] => [Year] => ) [Found] => 1 [Movies] => [Actors] => [Directors] => [MovieReviews] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [MovieName] => Snitch [ActorName] => Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Benjamin Bratt [ReleaseDate] => [Rating] => 3 [Director] => Ric Roman Waugh [Distributor] => Summit Entertainment [MPAARating] => Rated PG-13 [Reviewer] => Claudia Puig [brief] => [Review] =>

Drama and suspense fuel a surprisingly effective thriller, more than car chases and action.

[ReviewDate] => 2/21/2013 6:43:51 PM [WebUrl] => http://apidata.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/02/21/snitch-review/1921585/?kjnd=sjYkpHRx36xdI9nIUF4zSCO%2FS2NYJcmTa6F9PLrc24q0%2Bl7arQI9wplXLuRz3SUd-b0f6a17a-8cfd-42f3-8fb5-cbde99aef18b_skg4aYQUcUFeiN%2BIahUNjdRHHad1jo%2FUFxTimTSnEfYiZaZvuPCsFTZ5xdvlyL8G [id] => 850575 ) ) )

 

 

I have been trying to test by getting the movie name first.  IT is the MovieName that I am trying to pull.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong here. 

 

Here is the warning from

$movien = (string)$item['MovieName'];

Warning: Illegal string offset 'MovieName' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 174

This is what I get from

echo $movien

1

 

This is from:
var_dump($item['Movie'].'<br />');
Warning: Illegal string offset 'Movie' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 176
string(7) "1
"

 

I still just do not know.

[bmwhite4]

I also tried changing to:

$movien = $item['MovieName'];
        echo $movien, '<br /><br />';

and did a var_dump($movien).

 

I still get the errors

Warning: Illegal string offset 'MovieName' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 174
1

 

The var_dump gives me this:  string(1) "1",  That leads me to believe that I am trying to access it the wrong way.  When I change it to this

 

I get this error.

 

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ''APIParameters'' (T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING), expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or '{' or '$' in C:\wamp2\www\websearch\USASearch2.php on line 173

[us2rn4m2]

// Movie 

foreach($array as $k => $v) {

if(is_array($v) && array_key_exists('Movie', $v)) {

echo $v['Movie'];

}

}

echo $array['APIParameters']['Movie'];



// MovieName

foreach($array['MovieReviews'] as $k => $v) {

echo $v['MovieName'];

}

echo $array['MovieReviews'][0]['MovieName']; 

 

[bmwhite4]

 

// Movie 
foreach($array as $k => $v) {
if(is_array($v) && array_key_exists('Movie', $v)) {
echo $v['Movie'];
}
}
echo $array['APIParameters']['Movie'];


// MovieName
foreach($array['MovieReviews'] as $k => $v) {
echo $v['MovieName'];
}
echo $array['MovieReviews'][0]['MovieName']; 
 

Can you tell me what the as $k=> $v does?  When I change  to that I get this new error.

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$k' (T_VARIABLE) in ...

[salathe]

You're almost there, just looping over the wrong thing.

foreach ($cdata['MovieReviews'] as $movie_review) {
    echo $movie_review['MovieName'];
}

---

I find it useful to see the JSON in a more structured way. Tools like JSONLint, or browser addons like JSONView will reformat plain JSON into a more pretty layout.

 

JSONView

 

Similarly, in PHP it is often nice to see the structure of an array. For that, make sure you output plain text (e.g. header('Content-Type: text/plain')) rather than HTML, which will eat up your pretty whitespace unless you use something like a <pre> tag.

 

var_export()

[bmwhite4]

 

You're almost there, just looping over the wrong thing.

foreach ($cdata['MovieReviews'] as $movie_review) {
    echo $movie_review['MovieName'];
}

---

I find it useful to see the JSON in a more structured way. Tools like JSONLint, or browser addons like JSONView will reformat plain JSON into a more pretty layout.

 

JSONView

 

Similarly, in PHP it is often nice to see the structure of an array. For that, make sure you output plain text (e.g. header('Content-Type: text/plain')) rather than HTML, which will eat up your pretty whitespace unless you use something like a <pre> tag.

 

var_export()

Thank you that helped like a charm!! I appriciate all the info and help.