Using The Google Web APIs With PHP (
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The Google Web APIs allow developers to build SOAP-based
applications driven off Google's unique indexing and search
capabilities. And since there are now quite a few PHP classes designed
for SOAP transactions over HTTP, integrating the two has never been
simpler. 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.
