Create Search API like itunes Search API using PHP and MySQL

                      The Apple itunes provided a search API for retrieve app information from it. The Apple search API display result as JSON format. Do you want to know more information about Apple itunes search API, then visit iTunes Search API.

                      You can also create search API like Apple itunes search API if you know how to create JSON file using PHP. Due to this, you can provide search API for your websites. If you didn't know create JSON file using PHP and MySQL, then visit How to get output as JSON format using PHP and Mysql.

Generate Search API using PHP and MySQL

                       Lets see how to create search API using PHP.  Follow below steps to generate search API for your websites using PHP.

Step1: Connect MySQL database using PHP

                     Connect your MySQL database to get stored values from it using PHP. The PHP code for connect MySQL database is below:

 mysql_connect('localhost','root','') or die(mysql_error());
 mysql_select_db('fitness') or die(mysql_error());

Step2: Get value from url using PHP

                     While user search something on your search API, you need to get those values for search from url. So only you can provide particular results from your MySQL database. This is done by below PHP code.

 $field=$_REQUEST['field'];
 $limit=$_REQUEST['limit'];

Step3: Make MySQL select query

                     After got values from url, you've to make MySQL query to select corresponding results from database. You can get zero or more than one values from urls for search. You should make MySQL query like below using PHP.

 if($field!='' && $limit!='')
 {
   $cond="where name='".$field."' order by id desc limit 0, $limit";
 }
 if($field=='' && $limit!='')
 {
   $cond="order by id desc limit 0, $limit";
 }
 if($field!='' && $limit=='')
 {
   $cond="where name='".$field."' order by id desc limit 0, 50";
 }
 if($field=='' && $limit=='')
 {
   $cond="order by id desc limit 0, 50";
 }
 $q=mysql_query("select * from f_img $cond") or die(mysql_error());

Step4: Add header for get output as JSON format

              You must add header type ato your PHP script for get output as JSON format. This is like below

 header('Content-Type: Application/json');

Step5: Add content to JSON file using PHP

               You need to create 2 array for create output as multidimensional array. Retrieve values from query result using mysql_fetch_array. Then you push values to array using array_push() in PHP. Finally encode the results to display output as JSON format using json_encode().

               The full PHP code for create search API is represented below,

<?php
 error_reporting('E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE');
 mysql_connect('localhost','root','') or die(mysql_error());
 mysql_select_db('fitness') or die(mysql_error());
 $field=$_REQUEST['field'];
 $limit=$_REQUEST['limit'];
 if($field!='' && $limit!='')
 {
   $cond="where name='".$field."' order by id desc limit 0, $limit";
 }
 if($field=='' && $limit!='')
 {
   $cond="order by id desc limit 0, $limit";
 }
 if($field!='' && $limit=='')
 {
   $cond="where name='".$field."' order by id desc limit 0, 50";
 }
 if($field=='' && $limit=='')
 {
   $cond="order by id desc limit 0, 50";
 }
 $q=mysql_query("select * from user $cond") or die(mysql_error());
 header('Content-Type: Application/json');
 $details=array();
 $user=array();
 while($res=mysql_fetch_array($q))
 {
  $user['name']=$res['name'];
  $user['state']=$res['state'];
  $user['country']=$res['country'];
  array_push($details,$user);
 }
 //print_R($details);
 echo json_encode($details);

?>

           Your JSON output should be like below,

[
 {"name":"Clark","state":"California","country":"USA"},
 {"name":"Anderson","state":"Los Angeles","country":"USA"},
 {"name":"Smith","state":"London","country":"United Kingdom"},
 {"name":"Jones","state":"Cambridge","country":"United Kingdom"},
 {"name":"Nathan","state":"Franche Comte","country":"France"},
 {"name":"Marie","state":"Paris","country":"France"},
 {"name":"Nastya","state":"St Petersburg ","country":"Russia"},
 {"name":"Dima","state":"Moscow","country":"Russia"},
 {"name":"Linh","state":"Hanoi","country":"vietnam"},
 {"name":"Hoang","state":"Hai Phong","country":"vietnam"},
]

Step6 : .htaccess

                   Add following lines to your .htaccess file

RewriteRule ^search search.php [L]

                  Now you entered search on address bar, the .htaccess redirects you to search.php file. You can get search API using below url types.

                http://www.phponwebsites.com/search?field=nathan&limit=10
                http://www.phponwebsites.com/search?field=nathan
                http://www.phponwebsites.com/search?limit=10
                http://www.phponwebsites.com/search

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Create json file using PHP and MySQL

                        You can create json file using PHP and Mysql. You can get output as json format using PHP and Mysql. Before you want to know that, first you should know what is json? and what is the us of json?

JSON

      
                       JSON expands JavaScript Object Notation. It is one of the data interchange format. You can easily read and write data through JSON file.

                       It is language independent. So you can retrieve data from it using any familiar languages like PHP. It should be array format, object format and both array and object fotmat.

     The array format of Json file should be like this,

       [    
           {
              'tutorial':'PHP',
              'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/php.html'
           },
           {
              'tutorial':'Mysql',
              'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/mysql.html'
           },
           {
            'tutorial':'htaccess',
            'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/htaccess.html'
           }    
      ]

The object of JSON should be like this,

    {  
           'tutorial':'PHP',
            'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/php.html'  
    }

Get output as json format using PHP and Mysql

                           Now you know something about JSON files. So we are going to know how to get output as JSON format using php and mysql.

Add header to create json file using PHP and Mysql

       
                          If you want to create json file, then you have to add header for json file. It is like below

header('Content-Type: application/json'); 

          Where json indicate this is json file

Add content to json file using PHP

             Then you need to add contents to your json file as you want as. Retrieve values from query result using mysql_fetch_array. Suppose you have more values in a variable. Then you need to store all values in array. Consider the following PHP code.

<?php
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$linklist=array();
$link=array();
mysql_connect('localhost','root','') or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db('quicksai_quick') or die(mysql_error());
$qr=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `links` ") or die(mysql_error());
while($res=mysql_fetch_array($qr))
{
 $link['tutorial']=$res['tutorial'];
 $link['url']=$res['url'];
 array_push($linklist,$link);
}
//print_R($linklist);
echo json_encode($linklist);
?>

      The above example explain how to create json file on multidimensional array using PHP and Mysql.
     where,
               array() - create array variable.
               array_push() - insert values into array
               json_encode() - encode the values and returns JSON representation of values
             

The above example will give output as json file. It should be like this:

      

      [

      {'tutorial':'PHP', 'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/php.html'},

      {'tutorial':'Mysql', 'link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/mysql.html'},

      {'tutorial':'htaccess','link':'http://www.phponwebsites.com/p/htaccess.html'}

      ]

  

                   Now you can get output as json file. Then you should know how to retrieve values from json file using PHP.

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How to store array values into cookies in PHP

                      Cookies can store only string values. It can't store array values. But we are try to add array values into cookies in PHP.

Store array into cookies in php using serialize():

                           

                    Consider the following PHP script:

<?php
error_reporting('E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE');
$val=array('name'=>'Guru','country'=>'USA');
$val1=serialize($val);
setcookie('values',$val1);
?>

             Where,
                serialize() - Generate a storable values. Suppose you use above PHP code without serialize array value. Then you'll get error like this:

After serialize the array values, you can store array values into cookies using setcookie() in PHP.
Now the cookie contains array values.

Retrieve array values from cookies in PHP using unserialize():

                       

                     Consider the following example:

<?php
error_reporting('E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE');
$val=array('name'=>'Guru','country'=>'USA');
$val1=serialize($val);
setcookie('values',$val1);
$dat=$_COOKIE['values'];
$data=unserialize($dat);
foreach($data as $key => $vl)
{
   echo $key.' : '.$vl.'<br>';
}
?>

           Where,

                     unserialize() - takes serialized values and converts it into PHP value again. If you didn't use unserialize() in above PHP code, then you'll get error like this:

$_COOKIES[''] is used to retrieve values from cookies.
Now you can get array values from cookies. The output is:

                 name : Guru
                 country : USA

Store multiple values into cookies in PHP using json_encode():

                         You can also store multiple values into cookies using json_encode() method in PHP.

json_encode()  returns JSON representation of a value.  Consider the example:

<?php
$val=array('name'=>'Guru','country'=>'USA');
$ar=json_encode($val);
setcookie('cook',$ar);
?>

                      After encoded the array values, you can store it into cookies. If you use above code without json_encode(), then you'll get warning error message.

Retrieve array values from  cookies in PHP using json_decode();

                      You can retrieve array values from cookies using json_decode() like unserialize() in PHP.

json_decode()  takes JSON encoded values and convert it into PHP value again. Consider the example:

<?php
$val=array('name'=>'Guru','country'=>'USA');
$ar=json_encode($val);
setcookie('cook',$ar);
$return=$_COOKIE['cook'];
$arr=json_decode($return, true);
foreach($arr as $key1 => $values)
{
  echo $key1.' : '.$values.'<br>';
}
?>

Now you can get output like this:

        

                 name : Guru

                 country : USA

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