Getting the data you need from the API raw response - PHP

Inspection of the output screenshot of the code (see previous section) shows a complicated type of array commonly known in PHP as a "multi-dimensional array." By analyzing this type of array we can grab our desired data from the Yahoo inbound links explorer API.

To process multi-dimensional arrays, let's first do a little thought experiment. Suppose we wish to simulate the results in the previous screenshot using a PHP code; this is essential to our understanding of these arrays, which we can analyze further to grab the required data.

Again, you might find that the outermost array starts with [ResultSet]; this is the root array. Then the root array consists of four further arrays, namely:

[totalResultsAvailable]

[firstResultPosition]

[totalResultsReturned]

[Result]

The most important data can be found in the [Result] array. For example, the array [0] is the first back link data with the following innermost arrays:

[Title]

[Url]

[ClickURL]

To simulate an equivalent PHP code that will give the array structure in the earlier screenshot, start from the innermost array and work your way to the outermost array:

<?php

//This is the innermost array that contains the title tag, Url...etc

$innerarray0= array('Title' => 'This is a title0', 'Url' => 'This is the URL0', 'ClickUrl' => 'This is the ClickUrl0');

$innerarray1= array('Title' => 'This is a title1', 'Url' => 'This is the URL1', 'ClickUrl' => 'This is the ClickUrl1');

$innerarray2= array('Title' => 'This is a title2', 'Url' => 'This is the URL2', 'ClickUrl' => 'This is the ClickUrl2');

//This is the counter array starting from 0 to 2, based on the number of results you have requested from the Yahoo explorer inbound links API

$arraycount= array(0 =>$innerarray0,1=>$innerarray1,2=>$innerarray2);

//The second outer array that contains the total number of backlinks, results, starting position

$outerarray = array('totalResultsAvailable' => 569,'firstResultPosition' => 1, 'totalResultsReturned' => 3,'Result'=> $arraycount);

//This is the outermost array [ResultSet]

$rootarray=array('ResultSet'=> $outerarray);

//PHP code to display this simulated PHP code that replicates the Yahoo explorer inbound links API response PHP array

echo '<pre>';

print_r($rootarray);

echo '</pre>';

echo '<br />';

?>

Below is the screenshot of the PHP code output:

Now the above simulated PHP code output screenshot has exactly the same array structure as the original unserialized response array of inbound links explorer API (see previous screenshot).