The Google Web APIs allow developers to build SOAP-basedapplications driven off Google's unique indexing and searchcapabilities. And since there are now quite a few PHP classes designedfor SOAP transactions over HTTP, integrating the two has never beensimpler. This article explains how.
Unless you've been living in a cave for the past couple of years, you already know what Google is. In fact, if you're anything like most Webheads, you've probably used it in the last sixty minutes. With its unique indexing technology and huge database of Web pages, Google has rapidly become the best search engine on the Web, bar none - and the company's constant innovation promises to keep them ahead of the pack for a while longer.
Easily one of the most interesting things to emerge from Google HQ in recent months has to be the Google Web APIs, which allow developers to query the complete Google database using a series of SOAP-based remote procedure calls. By making a portion of Google's cutting-edge technology available to the public, the Google Web APIs allow developers to get ever more creative with their Web-based applications, and enable them to push the envelope with new XML-based applications.
Now, your favourite language and mine, PHP, comes with a couple of classes designed specifically for SOAP-based remote procedure calls over HTTP. This makes PHP ideal for developers looking to integrate the Google Web APIs into their Web applications. The only problem? Not too many people know how to do it.
That's where this tutorial comes in. Over the next few pages, I'll be demonstrating how you can use PHP, in combination with the Google Web APIs, to add powerful search capabilities to your Web application. Don't get too close - this is potent stuff.
