parfumeril
New Member
Using PHP, I'm trying to grab data from the Goodreads API, which returns XML. I've been having a hell of a time trying to figure out how to pull data out of it.At some point in the adventure, someone suggested I do a json decode( json encode ($blah)) of the whole thing and use JSON instead of XML.That brings me to my current situation. Everything works as it should, up to the point where I'm pulling data out of the returned array. I probably should have spent more time reading and learning about arrays, but after more than two days of doing every Google search I could think of, I came here.Here's the entirety of what gets returned by Goodreads:\[code\]a:2:{s:7:"Request";a:3:{s:14:"authentication";s:4:"true";s:3:"key";a:0:{}s:6:"method";a:0:{}}s:6:"search";a:7:{s:5:"query";a:0:{}s:13:"results-start";s:1:"1";s:11:"results-end";s:1:"1";s:13:"total-results";s:1:"1";s:6:"source";s:9:"Goodreads";s:18:"query-time-seconds";s:4:"0.06";s:7:"results";a:1:{s:4:"work";a:9:{s:11:"books_count";s:1:"7";s:2:"id";s:7:"5024045";s:24:"original_publication_day";s:2:"16";s:26:"original_publication_month";s:1:"9";s:25:"original_publication_year";s:4:"2008";s:13:"ratings_count";s:3:"227";s:18:"text_reviews_count";s:2:"53";s:14:"average_rating";s:4:"4.33";s:9:"best_book";a:5:{s:2:"id";s:7:"4958245";s:5:"title";s:37:"7 Habits of Happy Kids [With Earbuds]";s:6:"author";a:2:{s:2:"id";s:5:"38343";s:4:"name";s:10:"Sean Covey";}s:9:"image_url";s:56:"http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343744353m/4958245.jpg";s:15:"small_image_url";s:56:"http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343744353s/4958245.jpg";}}}}}\[/code\]What I want from this array is the "id" variable appears under "best_book". For that, I'm using these lines of code:\[code\]$goodreads_results = json_decode(json_encode((array) simplexml_load_string($goodreads_data_a)), 1);$goodreads_id = $goodreads_results->search->results->work->best_book->id;\[/code\]I should point out that the array I posted (that began "a:2:{s:7") is what's contained in $goodreads_results after the above two lines of code. So I know everything UP TO that point works as it should.For whatever reason, I'm not getting the ID. The $goodreads_id variable is empty.Can somebody help me figure out why? Even though I know it's likely something basic, I'm lost, and everything is starting to look the same to me.