PHP Parse XboxMB's API. - XboxMB

Austin · 04-02-2011

In this tutorial i'll show you how to easily parse XboxMB's API via PHP.

first off, let's define our variables.

PHP Code:

  $api_url = 'http://api.xboxmb.com/?u=';

// Use $_REQUEST to get either post or get data. In this case we will expect u to be the username
$username = $_REQUEST['u'];

Now, There are a couple of methods to retrieve the raw output in which the api gives. You can be lazy, and go for file_get_contents(); but CURL is proven to be faster so i'll show you CURL.

PHP Code:

  //init the CURL request.
$info = curl_init(); 

//set the session to retrieve from this url. the period concates both variables ($api_url.$username)
curl_setopt($info, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url.$username);

//set the session to return data from the sessions's url.
curl_setopt($info, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

//sets the variable $result to contain the returned data.
$result = curl_exec($info);

//closes the sessions connection.
curl_close($info);

Some people don't have CURL installed on their servers, so file_get_contents() would be your best bet. Instead of the CURL above, use this.

PHP Code:

  $result = file_get_contents($api_url.$username);

Now we have raw data of the requested username. Since the API's response is JSON we will have to decode it into usable form. The simplest and only method that i know of, is json_decode.

PHP Code:

  //set the $result variable to be the decoded JSON. The 'true' parameter puts the data into an array. I HIGHLY recommend it, as if you have worked with arrays it makes parsing it a piece of cake.
$result = json_decode($result,true);

//now that we have all the data given by the API in a easily accessible array, let's assign some variables.

//is the user valid?
$valid = $result['Valid'];

//set the correctly formatted username (Capitalization).
$username = $result['Username'];

//Have a title? return it, otherwise false.
$title = (empty($result['Title'])) ? false : $result['Title'];

//is he staff?
$staff = $result['Staff'];

//exact same concept as above.
$diamond = $result['Diamond'];

//again.
$banned = $result['Banned'];

//posts.
$posts = $result['Posts'];

//thanks.
$thanks = $result['Thanks'];

//the gamertag linked to their profile.
$gamertag = $result['Gamertag'];  

//date user joined in date format ex. Month Day, Year, Time am/pm.
$joined = date('F j, Y, g:i a',$result['JoinDate']);

//User id.
$UID = $result['UserID'];

You now have parsed data from the API. you can do whatever you want with it by echoing it where you desire. example.

PHP Code:

  echo 'The users post count is '.$posts.'!';

will return something like 'The users post count is 4503!'.

There you have it.

Cheater912 · 04-02-2011

Stickied. Nice post

xEzi · 04-02-2011

wow stickied that fast!

nice post

Tracti0nz · 04-03-2011

Thanks bro

xFamous · 04-03-2011

wow you got sticky ed that fast omg thats amazing
so is your post

Nice thread

NukeZilla · 04-03-2011

now u fixed it it works

Austin · 07-19-2011

Updated to suit updated API.

sgt frankieboy · 07-20-2011

I took this php script and put it inside a easy to use PHP class if anyone want's it
here it is

PHP Code:

  <?php

/*

This PHP class will make it easy for you to fetch data from the XboxMB api.

 
Written by: sgtfrankieboy

Thanks to: 

    XboxMB Staff - For this great API

    xAb - For making a great tutorial

*/

 
class XboxMB {

    

    public $Valid;

    public $Username;

    public $Title;

    public $Staff;

    public $Diamond;

    public $Banned;

    public $Posts;

    public $Thanks;

    public $Gamertag;

    public $Joined;

    public $UID;

    

    //Create a new instance of XboxMB API class

    public function __construct($username) {

        $this->Load($username); //Load in a user

    }

    

    //Load a new user

    public function Load($username)

    {

        //init the CURL request.

        $info = curl_init();

 
        //set the session to retrieve from this url.

        curl_setopt($info, CURLOPT_URL, "http://api.xboxmb.com/?u=" . $username);

        

        //set the session to return data from the session's url

        curl_setopt($info, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

        

        //sets the variable $result to cotathe returned data.

        $result = curl_exec($info);

        

        curl_close($info);

        

        $result = json_decode($result, true);

        

        //is the user valid?

        $this->Valid = $result['Valid'];

        

        //set the correctly formatted username (Capitalization).

        $this->Username = $result['Username'];

        

        //Have a title? return it, otherwise false.

        $this->Title = (empty($result['Title'])) ? false : $result['Title'];

        

        //is he staff?

        $this->Staff = $result['Staff'];

        

        //exact same concept as above.

        $this->Diamond = $result['Diamond'];

        

        //again.

        $this->Banned = $result['Banned'];

        

        //posts.

        $this->Posts = $result['Posts'];

        

        //thanks.

        $this->Thanks = $result['Thanks'];

        

        //the gamertag linked to their profile.

        $this->Gamertag = $result['Gamertag']; 

    }

}

 
?>

You can now simply do something like this

PHP Code:

  require_once "XboxMB.php";

 
$user = new XboxMB("[USERNAME]");

 
echo($user->Username . " his post count is " . $user->Posts . "<br />");

 
$user->Load("[USERNAME]");

 
echo($user->Username . " his post count is " . $user->Posts);

NukeZilla · 07-20-2011

PHP Code:

      $xboxmbuser = $data['Username'];
    $xboxmbTitle = $data['Title'];
    $xboxmbStaff = $data['Staff'];
    $xboxmbBanned = $data['Banned'];
    $xboxmbPosts = $data['Posts'];
    $xboxmbThanks = $data['Thanks'];
    $xboxmbGamertag = str_replace(" ", "%20", $data['Gamertag']);
    $xboxmbUserID = $data['UserID'];
    $xboxmbProfile = 'http://www.xboxmb.com/avatars/' . $xboxmbUserID .  '.gif';

I use that and that as the avatar

AMAZING

DO I GET BANNED

xuandma · 11-13-2011

The simplest and only method that i know of, is json_decode.