Api's (Communicating With Other Websites)

[Johnny2]

I was just wondering if I could get a short & sweet explanation for how to exchange data with other websites.

 

A common example would be requesting the shipping-cost for a package from UPS.

 

I'm pretty fuzzy with how one "catches" the data replied to you (from UPS), and how you would get that data put into a PHP variable. Once this "answer" to my request is in a PHP variable, I would be able to figure it out from there.

 

Their example code for a request:

 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<AccessRequest xml:lang="en-US">
	<AccessLicenseNumber>Your_License</AccessLicenseNumber>
<UserId>Your_ID</UserId>
<Password>Your_Password</Password>
</AccessRequest>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<RatingServiceSelectionRequest xml:lang="en-US">
 <Request>
   <TransactionReference>
     <CustomerContext>Rating and Service</CustomerContext>
     <XpciVersion>1.0</XpciVersion>
   </TransactionReference>
<RequestAction>Rate</RequestAction>
<RequestOption>Rate</RequestOption>
 </Request>
   <PickupType>
 	<code>07</code>
 	<Description>Rate</Description>
   </PickupType>
 <Shipment>
   	<Description>Rate Description</Description>
   <Shipper>
     <Name>Name</Name>
     <PhoneNumber>1234567890</PhoneNumber>
     <ShipperNumber>Ship Number</ShipperNumber>
     <address>
       <AddressLine1>Address Line</AddressLine1>
       <City>City</City>
       <StateProvinceCode>NJ</StateProvinceCode>
       <PostalCode>07430</PostalCode>
       <CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
     </address>
   </Shipper>
   <ShipTo>
     <CompanyName>Company Name</CompanyName>
     <PhoneNumber>1234567890</PhoneNumber>
     <address>
       <AddressLine1>Address Line</AddressLine1>
       <City>Corado</City>
       <PostalCode>00646</PostalCode> 
       <CountryCode>PR</CountryCode>
     </address>
   </ShipTo>
   <ShipFrom>
     <CompanyName>Company Name</CompanyName>
     <AttentionName>Attention Name</AttentionName>
     <PhoneNumber>1234567890</PhoneNumber>
     <FaxNumber>1234567890</FaxNumber>
     <address>
       <AddressLine1>Address Line</AddressLine1>
	<City>Boca Raton</City>
       <StateProvinceCode>FL</StateProvinceCode>
       <PostalCode>33434</PostalCode> 
       <CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
     </address>
   </ShipFrom>
 	<Service>
   		<code>03</code>
 	</Service>
 	<PaymentInformation>
      	<Prepaid>
       		<BillShipper>
         			<AccountNumber>Ship Number</AccountNumber>
       		</BillShipper>
     		</Prepaid>
 	</PaymentInformation>
 	<Package>
     		<PackagingType>
        	<code>02</code>
       		<Description>Customer Supplied</Description>
     		</PackagingType>
     		<Description>Rate</Description>
     		<PackageWeight>
     			<UnitOfMeasurement>
     			  <code>LBS</code>
     			</UnitOfMeasurement>
        	<Weight>10</Weight>
     		</PackageWeight>   
  	</Package>
   <ShipmentServiceOptions>
     <OnCallAir>
	<Schedule> 
		<PickupDay>02</PickupDay>
		<Method>02</Method>
	</Schedule>
     </OnCallAir>
   </ShipmentServiceOptions>
 </Shipment>
</RatingServiceSelectionRequest>

 

Their example of a Response (I have no idea how I would even get or work with this)

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<RatingServiceSelectionResponse>
   <Response>
       <TransactionReference>
           <CustomerContext>Rating and Service</CustomerContext>
           <XpciVersion>1.0</XpciVersion>
       </TransactionReference>
       <ResponseStatusCode>1</ResponseStatusCode>
       <ResponseStatusDescription>Success</ResponseStatusDescription>
   </Response>
   <RatedShipment>
       <Service>
           <Code>03</Code>
       </Service>
       <RatedShipmentWarning>Your invoice may vary from the displayed reference rates</RatedShipmentWarning>
       <BillingWeight>
           <UnitOfMeasurement>
               <Code>LBS</Code>
           </UnitOfMeasurement>
           <Weight>10.0</Weight>
       </BillingWeight>
       <TransportationCharges>
           <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
           <MonetaryValue>52.16</MonetaryValue>
       </TransportationCharges>
       <ServiceOptionsCharges>
           <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
           <MonetaryValue>0.00</MonetaryValue>
       </ServiceOptionsCharges>
       <TotalCharges>
           <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
           <MonetaryValue>52.16</MonetaryValue>
       </TotalCharges>
       <GuaranteedDaysToDelivery/>
       <ScheduledDeliveryTime/>
       <RatedPackage>
           <TransportationCharges>
               <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
               <MonetaryValue>52.16</MonetaryValue>
           </TransportationCharges>
           <ServiceOptionsCharges>
               <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
               <MonetaryValue>0.00</MonetaryValue>
           </ServiceOptionsCharges>
           <TotalCharges>
               <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
               <MonetaryValue>52.16</MonetaryValue>
           </TotalCharges>
           <Weight>10.0</Weight>
           <BillingWeight>
               <UnitOfMeasurement>
                   <Code>LBS</Code>
               </UnitOfMeasurement>
               <Weight>10.0</Weight>
           </BillingWeight>
       </RatedPackage>
   </RatedShipment>
</RatingServiceSelectionResponse>

 

Any feedback would be appreciated

Thank you!

[falkencreative]

The short answer is this -- an API is a way for an external person/machine to access a database and retrieve information from it. Usually, you'd ask for information using a specific URL, and you'd get the data you need in some sort of structured format -- either JSON or XML usually (this particular response returns XML). You'd then use PHP to parse that result and use the data however you needed. I'd suggest doing a search for tutorials on building a basic API to understand how it works, and specifically how to process the XML returned from an API request.

[Johnny2]

Thanks Ben. Do you know of any tutorial videos on parsing XML or API's?

[falkencreative]

Not off the top of my head unfortunately. I'm sure you can find some by doing a web search or two.