Re: PHP and Web Services (where to start?)

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 20:12:27 -0800, you wrote: >I'm a total newbie to programming, but I picked up PHP last month and redesigned my website >(I think it's great). > >What I want to do now, is create a price comparison engine of online bookstores using PHP and >whatever web services the vendors supply. > >My question is: where should I start? I've purchased the Professional PHP4 XML book by Wrox >(being shipped), but am wondering if anyone has coded something along these lines. The "right" way is to use something like NuSOAP (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nusoap) (you'll find example code that uses NuSOAP at Amazon), or Krysalis (I haven't used it, but there'll be someone along to pimp it in a minute). However, given your experience level I'm not sure if these are the best tools for you. You /may/ find it easier to chop the data you want out of the raw XML with string handling and regular expression functions. I guess the first thing you should do is try to get Amazon's example code working, and take it from there. A google search for "Amazon PHP API" should help if you get stuck. (BTW, you should examine Amazon's T&Cs before you use their data in a way that might encourage people to use competing booksellers.)