PHP and Twitter API

General PHP Help
#1

I’m struggling badly making a (apparently simple) php script for calling the twitter api and listing recent tweets. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I’m most appreciative. I THINK the crisis is in my require_once fucntion. Below the code is the link to it live, you can see what happens.

[php]<?php
session_start();
require_once(“twitteroauth.php”); //Path to twitteroauth library

$twitteruser = “username_here”;
$notweets = 10;
$consumerkey = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
$consumersecret = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
$accesstoken = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj”;
$accesstokensecret = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;

function getConnectionWithAccessToken($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret) {
$connection = new TwitterOAuth($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret);
return $connection;
}

$connection = getConnectionWithAccessToken($consumerkey, $consumersecret, $accesstoken, $accesstokensecret);

$tweets = $connection->get(“https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=”.$notweets);

echo json_encode($tweets);
?>[/php]

http://www.anxietyclown.com/TwitterO/get_tweets2.php

#2

I’m noticing that ANYTIME I require_once or include an external file, it ends up displaying that file rather than executing it.

#3

Post the twitteroauth.php file you are using as well. Sounds like you don’t start these files with <?php

#4

Code is too long to post but yes it appears to be missing php tags. I’ll investigate more. THANKS!

#5

Okay, inching forward. I am not able to receive a specified # of tweets but they return to me as a wall of text and information. I think the cause of this is the following code snippet:

[php]echo json_encode($tweets);[/php]

From what I understand, I need to var_dump or decode the information from the json? If I figure out how to do that, how do I know what information is returned and where in the array its placed?

#6

Hard to say without seeing any code / response data. I haven’t worked with the twitter api before, but it doesn’t make sense to json_encode the result, are you sure you are not supposed to decode it?

Try this:
[php] <?php
session_start();
require_once(“twitteroauth.php”); //Path to twitteroauth library

$twitteruser = “username_here”;
$notweets = 10;
$consumerkey = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
$consumersecret = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
$accesstoken = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj”;
$accesstokensecret = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;

function getConnectionWithAccessToken($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret) {
$connection = new TwitterOAuth($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret);
return $connection;
}

$connection = getConnectionWithAccessToken($consumerkey, $consumersecret, $accesstoken, $accesstokensecret);

$tweets = $connection->get(“https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=”.$notweets);

$tweetData = json_decode($tweets);
echo ‘

’;

var_dump($tweetData);[/php]
#7

I think what you’re suggesting will work (All I get echoed is NULL right now) but I’m not sure how to unravel that var_dump. I don’t know how many fields are in the array or what is in each field. Is there a way to loop through an array, without knowing its depth/length, and echo the contents on screen?

#8

Var dumping the object should display all data within. Try var dumping $tweets and see if what you’ve got there is valid json.

JSON validator:
http://jsonlint.org/

if you’re still having problems please paste the data of $tweets here and someone will be able to have a look at it and see where you should go from here :slight_smile:

#9

When I use:

[php]$tweetData = json_decode($tweets);
echo ‘

’;

var_dump($tweetData);

echo ‘
’;[/php]

All I get on screen is NULL.

When I use:

[php]$tweetData = json_encode($tweets);
echo ‘

’;

var_dump($tweetData);

echo ‘
’;[/php]

I get this:

http://www.anxietyclown.com/TwitterO/get_tweets2.php

#10

Progress!! I figured out I have to encode the json then decode it in the var_dump as so:

[php]$tweetData = json_encode($tweets);
echo ‘

’;

var_dump(json_decode($tweetData, true));

echo ‘
’;[/php]

So now I have all my data store in an array called $tweetData, correct? My question is, how do I get to it? I can get it to print on the screen but what I need is to get individual pieces of that data for parsing.

I am bringing the latest 5 tweets into the array, each tweet has a ton of data in it (40-50 fields). I only need 3 or 4 of those pieces of data from each tweet to do the analyzing of the tweet that I need to do.

How do I extract them into variables I can work with?

I tried this:

echo “$tweetData[13]”;

and all it did was return the 13th character of the entire array, rather than the 13th element.

#11

http://www.anxietyclown.com/TwitterO/get_tweets2.php

This is an example of the array in question when it’s been var_dump(ed). I’m asking how to pull individual elements of it into variables.

$tweet1_content
$tweet1_ID
$tweet1_time

and so on.

#12

This should work.
[php]foreach ($tweetData as $tweet) {
echo 'ID: ’ . $tweet[‘id’];
echo 'Created: ’ . $tweet[‘created_at’];
echo 'Content: ’ . $tweet[‘text’];
echo ‘User: ’ . $tweet[‘user’][‘screen_name’] . ’ (’ . $tweet[‘user’][‘id_str’] . ‘)’;
}
[/php]

if you want data from one tweet you could also do
[php]echo $tweetData[0][‘id’];[/php]

You should try playing around with a large array and var dumping the values when you do foreach, echo $array[0], etc. It’s actually really easy.

Ex:

[php]array(5) {
[0]=>
array(22) {
[“created_at”]=>
string(30) “Mon Sep 16 00:10:51 +0000 2013”
[“id_str”]=>
string(18) “379396930235031552”
[“user”]=>
array(39) {
[“id_str”]=>
string(8) “19601213”
[“screen_name”]=>
string(9) “jdroberto”
[“entities”]=>
array(2) {
[“url”]=>
array(1) {
[“urls”]=>
array(1) {
[0]=>
array(4) {
[“url”]=>
string(22) “http://t.co/Y9kUVJgnnF”
[“expanded_url”]=>
string(28) “http://www.thehandsondad.com”
[“display_url”]=>
string(17) “thehandsondad.com”
}
}
}
}
}
[“retweet_count”]=>
int(54)
[“entities”]=>
array(4) {
[“hashtags”]=>
array(1) {
[0]=>
array(2) {
[“text”]=>
string(8) “football”
}
}
}
}
[1]=> …[/php]

If you do a foreach $array, or $array[0] here, then the (first) new value will contain:

[php]array(22) {
[“created_at”]=>
string(30) “Mon Sep 16 00:10:51 +0000 2013”
[“id_str”]=>
string(18) “379396930235031552”
[“user”]=>
array(39) {
[“id_str”]=>
string(8) “19601213”
[“screen_name”]=>
string(9) “jdroberto”
[“entities”]=>
array(2) {
[“url”]=>
array(1) {
[“urls”]=>
array(1) {
[0]=>
array(4) {
[“url”]=>
string(22) “http://t.co/Y9kUVJgnnF”
[“expanded_url”]=>
string(28) “http://www.thehandsondad.com”
[“display_url”]=>
string(17) “thehandsondad.com”
}
}
}
}
}
[“retweet_count”]=>
int(54)
[“entities”]=>
array(4) {
[“hashtags”]=>
array(1) {
[0]=>
array(2) {
[“text”]=>
string(8) “football”
}
}
}[/php]

and you can just follow the three-structure to get the data you want.
[php]echo $tweet[‘created_at’];
echo $tweet[‘user’][‘entities’][‘url’][‘urls’][0]['display_url];[/php]

#13

[php] foreach ($tweetData as $tweet) {
echo 'ID: ’ . $tweet[‘id’];
echo 'Created: ’ . $tweet[‘created_at’];
echo 'Content: ’ . $tweet[‘text’];
echo ‘User: ’ . $tweet[‘user’][‘screen_name’] . ’ (’ . $tweet[‘user’][‘id_str’] . ‘)’;[/php]
}

Doesnt end up echo-ing anything on screen at all. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

#14

Post your updated code, I did this yesterday and it worked fine, must be a small error somewhere.

I am guessing this is it:
[php]$tweetData = json_encode($tweets);
echo ‘

’;

var_dump(json_decode($tweetData, true));

echo ‘
’;[/php]

How did you change this code afterwards? It should look something like this:
[php]$tweetData = json_decode(json_encode($tweets), true);[/php]

Although I still think it’s strange you have to json encode it first. I think I have to look into the twitter api, curious how that response looks.

#15

yes! it was indeed a syntax goof on my part. so I’m in really good shape at this point, moving slowly toward my goal. Here’s where the code stands now. I am going through the cached tweets, displaying only the ID and Text of the tweet and then parsing whether or not it’s a retweet or reply (and echoing that information on screen).

[php]$tweets = $connection->get(“https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=”.$notweets);

$tweetData = json_decode(json_encode($tweets), true);

foreach ($tweetData as $tweet) {
echo '
ID: ’ . $tweet[‘id_str’];
echo '
Tweet: ’ . $tweet[‘text’];

 if ($tweet['retweeted_status'] != NULL) 
{
$retweet = TRUE;
}
else
{
	$retweet = FALSE;
}

if ($tweet['in_reply_to_status_id'] != NULL) 
{
$reply = TRUE;
}
else 
{
$reply = FALSE;
}

echo "<br/>reply ".$reply;
echo "<br/>retweet ".$retweet;

echo “

”;[/php]
#16

If you get any more problems then it’s just to post back :slight_smile:

I’d like to point you in the direction of a short if/else syntax, I like it to keep the code short and consise.

Your code can be rewritten to this:

[php]$tweets = $connection->get(“https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=”.$notweets);

$tweetData = json_decode(json_encode($tweets), true);

foreach ($tweetData as $tweet) {
echo “

”;
echo '
ID: ’ . $tweet[‘id_str’];
echo '
Tweet: ’ . $tweet[‘text’];

$retweet = $tweet[‘retweeted_status’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;
$reply = $tweet[‘in_reply_to_status_id’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;

echo "
reply " . $reply;
echo "
retweet " . $retweet;

echo “

”;
}[/php]

Note how much space is saved with the short if/elses :slight_smile:

Or you could just skip setting the variables alltogether.

[php]$tweets = $connection->get(“https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=”.$notweets);

$tweetData = json_decode(json_encode($tweets), true);

foreach ($tweetData as $tweet) {
echo “

”;
echo '
ID: ’ . $tweet[‘id_str’];
echo '
Tweet: ’ . $tweet[‘text’];
echo "
reply " . $tweet[‘retweeted_status’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;
echo "
retweet " . $tweet[‘in_reply_to_status_id’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;
echo “

”;
}[/php]
#17

Excellent, thank you! I’m a huge fan of elegance in coding even if I’m not capable of it at first site :frowning:

I’m trying to make the next piece of code conditional on both $reweet and $reply being FALSE. Not sure what the most un-convoluted way to do it might be.

Truly appreciate your time and help thus far!

#18

Sorry to ask but could you explain what this code does?

[php]$retweet = $tweet[‘retweeted_status’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;
$reply = $tweet[‘in_reply_to_status_id’] != NULL ? TRUE : false;[/php]

is it a sort of if/else? I read up on booleans but can’t find this example.

#19

As said it’s a short if/else

Basically
Condition ? if true : if false

[php]$result = !empty($_GET[‘data’]) ? $_GET[‘data’] : null;[/php]

If get data is not empty (empty checks for both is set and empty), then result = get data, else result = null.

So what I didnin two lines was exactly the same as you did in 20.

#20

http://robertsettle.com/2012/07/php-shorthand-if-statements/

Wrote the last post on my phone and it wouldn’t let me paste below the text. This should also serve as a warning for possible typos, but i think I got it right ^^

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