Print

Accessing Apimo WebService API

Applies to: What?
This is an article on how I connected to the Apimo WebService. The Apimo Webservice is an API provided by apimo.com and requires a server request over HTTPS using the GET method.

Why?
This was quite difficult to connect to and to determine what was wrong with each step of the development as the error messages were somewhat vague. I thought I'd quickly write this article so I don't have to spend so much time on it again.

Note that the below examples, demonstrate a script on a Non-SSL-Enabled host.

How?
Previously, I would have used cURL but for some reason, I couldn't get the configuration right. After several days... I tried the example as per the Apimo documentation and it worked! There were a few adjustments to make which I'm documenting here.

Basic Example
Here's a complete PHP script of a basic example of getting the agencies belonging to a company (note you will need to change the keys and relevant IDs to match your own solution):
copyraw 
// specify provider ID
$my_provider_id = 1234;  
$my_timestamp = time();

// specify company ID
$company_id_1 = 1234;
$company_id_2 = 4321;

// specify agency ID
$company_id_1_agency_id = '';
$company_id_1_brand_id = '';

// specify target url and version
$apimo_url = 'https://api.apimo.com/api/call';
$apimo_version = 2;

// specify data output
$apimo_method = 'getAgencies';
$apimo_type = 'xml';

// specify key and encryption
$apimo_key = 'abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234';  // specify your assigned key here
$apimo_sha = sha1($apimo_key.$my_timestamp);

// receive content
$output = file_get_contents(
        $apimo_url.
        '?provider='.$my_provider_id.
        '×tamp='.$my_timestamp.
        '&sha1='.$apimo_sha.
        '&method='.$apimo_method.
        '&type='.$apimo_type.
        '&version='.$apimo_version.
        '&agency='.$company_id_1_agency_id.
        '&company='.$company_id_1.
        '&brand='.$company_id_1_brand_id
);

// remove XML declaration from results 
$output = substr($output, stripos($output, '?>') + 2 );

// remove leading spaces, carriage returns
$output = trim($output); 

// process if type specified was xml
if($apimo_type=='xml'){

        // send header
        header("Content-Type:text/xml");

        // print result to page
        echo $output;
}
  1.  // specify provider ID 
  2.  $my_provider_id = 1234; 
  3.  $my_timestamp = time(); 
  4.   
  5.  // specify company ID 
  6.  $company_id_1 = 1234; 
  7.  $company_id_2 = 4321; 
  8.   
  9.  // specify agency ID 
  10.  $company_id_1_agency_id = ''; 
  11.  $company_id_1_brand_id = ''; 
  12.   
  13.  // specify target url and version 
  14.  $apimo_url = 'https://api.apimo.com/api/call'; 
  15.  $apimo_version = 2; 
  16.   
  17.  // specify data output 
  18.  $apimo_method = 'getAgencies'; 
  19.  $apimo_type = 'xml'; 
  20.   
  21.  // specify key and encryption 
  22.  $apimo_key = 'abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234';  // specify your assigned key here 
  23.  $apimo_sha = sha1($apimo_key.$my_timestamp); 
  24.   
  25.  // receive content 
  26.  $output = file_get_contents( 
  27.          $apimo_url. 
  28.          '?provider='.$my_provider_id. 
  29.          '×tamp='.$my_timestamp. 
  30.          '&sha1='.$apimo_sha. 
  31.          '&method='.$apimo_method. 
  32.          '&type='.$apimo_type. 
  33.          '&version='.$apimo_version. 
  34.          '&agency='.$company_id_1_agency_id. 
  35.          '&company='.$company_id_1. 
  36.          '&brand='.$company_id_1_brand_id 
  37.  ); 
  38.   
  39.  // remove XML declaration from results 
  40.  $output = substr($output, stripos($output, '?>') + 2 ); 
  41.   
  42.  // remove leading spaces, carriage returns 
  43.  $output = trim($output); 
  44.   
  45.  // process if type specified was xml 
  46.  if($apimo_type=='xml'){ 
  47.   
  48.          // send header 
  49.          header("Content-Type:text/xml"); 
  50.   
  51.          // print result to page 
  52.          echo $output; 
  53.  } 
Advanced Example
Here's a complete PHP script of a more complex example of 1) getting the agencies belonging to a company then 2) getting the properties for each agency:
copyraw 
<?php

// intialize a result count
$property_count=0;

// specify provider ID
$my_provider_id = 1234;
$my_timestamp = time();

// specify company IDs
$target_company_ids = array(2345, 3456);

// specify target url and version
$apimo_url = 'https://api.apimo.com/api/call';
$apimo_version = 2;

// specify data output
$apimo_type = 'xml';

// specify key and encryption
$apimo_key = 'abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234';
$apimo_sha = sha1($apimo_key.$my_timestamp);

// 
for($i=0;$i<count($target_company_ids);$i++){

        // receive content
        $output = file_get_contents(
                $apimo_url.
                '?provider='.$my_provider_id.
                '×tamp='.$my_timestamp.
                '&sha1='.$apimo_sha.
                '&method=getAgencies'.
                '&type='.$apimo_type.
                '&version='.$apimo_version.
                '&agency='.
                '&company='.$target_company_ids[$i].
                '&brand='
        );

        echo '<h1>Company: '.$target_company_ids[$i].'</h1>';

        // remove XML declaration from results 
        $output = substr($output, stripos($output, '?>') + 2 );

        // remove leading spaces, carriage returns
        $output = trim($output); 

        // convert output to XML string type
        $apimo = new SimpleXMLElement($output);

        // loop through each agency and retrieve ID
        foreach($apimo->agencies->agency as $agency){

        echo '<h2>Agency: '.$agency->id.'</h2>';

                // get properties for each agency
                $agency_output = file_get_contents(
                        $apimo_url.
                        '?provider='.$my_provider_id.
                        '×tamp='.$my_timestamp.
                        '&sha1='.$apimo_sha.
                        '&method=getProperties'.
                        '&type='.$apimo_type.
                        '&version='.$apimo_version.
                        '&agency='.$agency->id.
                        '&company='.
                        '&brand='
                );

                // remove XML declaration from results 
                $agency_output = trim(substr($agency_output, stripos($agency_output, '?>') + 2 ));

                // convert output to XML string type
                $properties = new SimpleXMLElement($agency_output);

                foreach($properties->properties->property as $property){
                        echo '<h3>Property: '.$property->id.'</h3>';
                        echo $property->reference.'<br />';
                        echo $property->address.'<br />';
                        foreach($property->pictures->picture as $picture){
                                echo '<img src="'.$picture->url.'" width="150" height="100" />';
                        }
                        $property_count++;
                }

        }

} // end for i=0 i<count i++

// output how many properties were returned
echo '<hr />Returned Properties: '.$property_count;
?>
  1.  <?php 
  2.   
  3.  // intialize a result count 
  4.  $property_count=0; 
  5.   
  6.  // specify provider ID 
  7.  $my_provider_id = 1234; 
  8.  $my_timestamp = time(); 
  9.   
  10.  // specify company IDs 
  11.  $target_company_ids = array(2345, 3456); 
  12.   
  13.  // specify target url and version 
  14.  $apimo_url = 'https://api.apimo.com/api/call'; 
  15.  $apimo_version = 2; 
  16.   
  17.  // specify data output 
  18.  $apimo_type = 'xml'; 
  19.   
  20.  // specify key and encryption 
  21.  $apimo_key = 'abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234'; 
  22.  $apimo_sha = sha1($apimo_key.$my_timestamp); 
  23.   
  24.  // 
  25.  for($i=0;$i<count($target_company_ids);$i++){ 
  26.   
  27.          // receive content 
  28.          $output = file_get_contents( 
  29.                  $apimo_url. 
  30.                  '?provider='.$my_provider_id. 
  31.                  '×tamp='.$my_timestamp. 
  32.                  '&sha1='.$apimo_sha. 
  33.                  '&method=getAgencies'. 
  34.                  '&type='.$apimo_type. 
  35.                  '&version='.$apimo_version. 
  36.                  '&agency='. 
  37.                  '&company='.$target_company_ids[$i]. 
  38.                  '&brand=' 
  39.          ); 
  40.   
  41.          echo '<h1>Company: '.$target_company_ids[$i].'</h1>'; 
  42.   
  43.          // remove XML declaration from results 
  44.          $output = substr($output, stripos($output, '?>') + 2 ); 
  45.   
  46.          // remove leading spaces, carriage returns 
  47.          $output = trim($output); 
  48.   
  49.          // convert output to XML string type 
  50.          $apimo = new SimpleXMLElement($output); 
  51.   
  52.          // loop through each agency and retrieve ID 
  53.          foreach($apimo->agencies->agency as $agency){ 
  54.   
  55.          echo '<h2>Agency: '.$agency->id.'</h2>'; 
  56.   
  57.                  // get properties for each agency 
  58.                  $agency_output = file_get_contents( 
  59.                          $apimo_url. 
  60.                          '?provider='.$my_provider_id. 
  61.                          '×tamp='.$my_timestamp. 
  62.                          '&sha1='.$apimo_sha. 
  63.                          '&method=getProperties'. 
  64.                          '&type='.$apimo_type. 
  65.                          '&version='.$apimo_version. 
  66.                          '&agency='.$agency->id. 
  67.                          '&company='. 
  68.                          '&brand=' 
  69.                  ); 
  70.   
  71.                  // remove XML declaration from results 
  72.                  $agency_output = trim(substr($agency_output, stripos($agency_output, '?>') + 2 )); 
  73.   
  74.                  // convert output to XML string type 
  75.                  $properties = new SimpleXMLElement($agency_output); 
  76.   
  77.                  foreach($properties->properties->property as $property){ 
  78.                          echo '<h3>Property: '.$property->id.'</h3>'; 
  79.                          echo $property->reference.'<br />'; 
  80.                          echo $property->address.'<br />'; 
  81.                          foreach($property->pictures->picture as $picture){ 
  82.                                  echo '<img src="'.$picture->url.'" width="150" height="100" />'; 
  83.                          } 
  84.                          $property_count++; 
  85.                  } 
  86.   
  87.          } 
  88.   
  89.  } // end for i=0 i<count i++ 
  90.   
  91.  // output how many properties were returned 
  92.  echo '<hr />Returned Properties: '.$property_count; 
  93.  ?> 

Other Methods
Here's the cURL I couldn't get working. Instead I used Apimo's documentation with file_get_contents. Just storing this in case.
copyraw 
// cURL With SSL via method GET: FAIL
$header = array(
"Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8",
"Accept: gzip,deflate",
"User-Agent: WWPC uAPI Test",
"Cache-Control: no-cache",
"Pragma: no-cache",
"Connection: Keep-Alive",
"Host: api.apimo.com",
"Content-length: " . strlen($test_message_url),
);
$ch = curl_init();    
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $apimo_url.'?'.$apimo_message_xml); // set url
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1);                              // For debugging purposes (read CURL manual for nore info)
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 30);                      // Timeout options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);                             // Timeout options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);  
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.6) Gecko/20070725 Firefox/2.0.0.6"); // set browser/user agent    
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, CURL_SSLVERSION_TLSv1);       // TLS version to use (1.0)
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0 );                              // Omit headers (enable these during testing - malformed XML but more info)
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );                      // curl_exec function will show the response directly on the page (if set to 0 curl_exec function will return the result)
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PORT, 443);                               // SSL port to use (443)
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, 'read_header'); // get header
$ch_result = curl_exec($ch);

echo $ch_result;
  1.  // cURL With SSL via method GET: FAIL 
  2.  $header = array( 
  3.  "Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8", 
  4.  "Accept: gzip,deflate", 
  5.  "User-Agent: WWPC uAPI Test", 
  6.  "Cache-Control: no-cache", 
  7.  "Pragma: no-cache", 
  8.  "Connection: Keep-Alive", 
  9.  "Host: api.apimo.com", 
  10.  "Content-length: " . strlen($test_message_url), 
  11.  ); 
  12.  $ch = curl_init(); 
  13.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $apimo_url.'?'.$apimo_message_xml); // set url 
  14.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1);                              // For debugging purposes (read CURL manual for nore info) 
  15.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 30);                      // Timeout options 
  16.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);                             // Timeout options 
  17.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); 
  18.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.6) Gecko/20070725 Firefox/2.0.0.6"); // set browser/user agent 
  19.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, CURL_SSLVERSION_TLSv1);       // TLS version to use (1.0) 
  20.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0 );                              // Omit headers (enable these during testing - malformed XML but more info) 
  21.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );                      // curl_exec function will show the response directly on the page (if set to 0 curl_exec function will return the result) 
  22.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PORT, 443);                               // SSL port to use (443) 
  23.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, 'read_header'); // get header 
  24.  $ch_result = curl_exec($ch); 
  25.   
  26.  echo $ch_result; 
Category: API Miscellaneous :: Article: 638