Question

Hello all having some trouble accessing elements from a returned JSON from Twitter. I’m trying to retrieve about 18 tweets from 6 different account and display them in chronological order, but I can’t figure out how to access the elements in the array. I’ve tried using json_decode(), tried foreach loop and a for loop. Basically I out of all of the following, all I need is the following elements: text, user->screen_name, user->profile_image_url, and created_at. Reason being when I upload the php to a website, the app I’m building times out and doesn’t receive the data, so I’m trying to make the return a lot smaller by only getting back what is needed. Anywho, here is a sample of 1 tweet I’m receiving back…

[{"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"created_at":"Thu Aug 25 01:50:07 +0000 2011","geo":null,"user":{"profile_background_tile":true,"protected":false,"url":"http:\/\/www.backpocketmemory.com","name":"Back Pocket Memory","default_profile":false,"friends_count":1115,"profile_link_color":"0084B4","default_profile_image":false,"show_all_inline_media":false,"contributors_enabled":false,"following":false,"geo_enabled":false,"utc_offset":-28800,"profile_sidebar_border_color":"C0DEED","description":"We're a hard rock\/pop band from Burbank, CA. We love you. facebook.com\/backpocketmemory @bpmchris @bpmguitar @bpmsixstring @bpmbass @bpmdrummer\r\n","profile_background_image_url_https":"https:\/\/si0.twimg.com\/profile_background_images\/236635469\/60509_430737311786_16094846786_5566606_2050188_n.jpg","time_zone":"Pacific Time (US & Canada)","created_at":"Mon Jul 27 20:58:35 +0000 2009","profile_image_url":"http:\/\/a2.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1320311803\/STICKER_IDEA_1_normal.jpg","is_translator":false,"profile_use_background_image":true,"profile_image_url_https":"https:\/\/si0.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1320311803\/STICKER_IDEA_1_normal.jpg","follow_request_sent":false,"statuses_count":2238,"profile_background_color":"C0DEED","screen_name":"bckpcktmmry","profile_background_image_url":"http:\/\/a3.twimg.com\/profile_background_images\/236635469\/60509_430737311786_16094846786_5566606_2050188_n.jpg","favourites_count":6,"id_str":"60708421","lang":"en","verified":false,"profile_text_color":"333333","location":"Burbank, CA","id":60708421,"listed_count":19,"notifications":false,"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"DDEEF6","followers_count":683},"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"truncated":false,"coordinates":null,"favorited":false,"possibly_sensitive":false,"in_reply_to_status_id_str":null,"in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"source":"\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/twitter\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003EFacebook\u003C\/a\u003E","in_reply_to_user_id_str":null,"id_str":"106543849266098176","id":106543849266098176,"contributors":null,"place":null,"retweeted":false,"retweet_count":2,"text":"Want to pick up tix for Rob's Bday Show next week? Come visit us at rehearsal. 156 W Providencia in Burbank.... http:\/\/t.co\/oNvw5I6"}]

Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

Your JSON decodes fine:

array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'in_reply_to_status_id' => NULL,
    'created_at' => 'Thu Aug 25 01:50:07 +0000 2011',
    'geo' => NULL,
    'user' => 
    array (
      'profile_background_tile' => true,
      'protected' => false,
      'url' => 'http://www.backpocketmemory.com',
      'name' => 'Back Pocket Memory',
      'default_profile' => false,
      'friends_count' => 1115,
      'profile_link_color' => '0084B4',
      'default_profile_image' => false,
      'show_all_inline_media' => false,
      'contributors_enabled' => false,
      'following' => false,
      'geo_enabled' => false,
      'utc_offset' => -28800,
      'profile_sidebar_border_color' => 'C0DEED',
      'description' => 'We're a hard rock/pop band from Burbank, CA. We love you. facebook.com/backpocketmemory @bpmchris @bpmguitar @bpmsixstring @bpmbass @bpmdrummer
',
      'profile_background_image_url_https' => 'https://si0.twimg.com/profile_background_images/236635469/60509_430737311786_16094846786_5566606_2050188_n.jpg',
      'time_zone' => 'Pacific Time (US & Canada)',
      'created_at' => 'Mon Jul 27 20:58:35 +0000 2009',
      'profile_image_url' => 'http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1320311803/STICKER_IDEA_1_normal.jpg',
      'is_translator' => false,
      'profile_use_background_image' => true,
      'profile_image_url_https' => 'https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1320311803/STICKER_IDEA_1_normal.jpg',
      'follow_request_sent' => false,
      'statuses_count' => 2238,
      'profile_background_color' => 'C0DEED',
      'screen_name' => 'bckpcktmmry',
      'profile_background_image_url' => 'http://a3.twimg.com/profile_background_images/236635469/60509_430737311786_16094846786_5566606_2050188_n.jpg',
      'favourites_count' => 6,
      'id_str' => '60708421',
      'lang' => 'en',
      'verified' => false,
      'profile_text_color' => '333333',
      'location' => 'Burbank, CA',
      'id' => 60708421,
      'listed_count' => 19,
      'notifications' => false,
      'profile_sidebar_fill_color' => 'DDEEF6',
      'followers_count' => 683,
    ),
    'in_reply_to_user_id' => NULL,
    'truncated' => false,
    'coordinates' => NULL,
    'favorited' => false,
    'possibly_sensitive' => false,
    'in_reply_to_status_id_str' => NULL,
    'in_reply_to_screen_name' => NULL,
    'source' => '<a href="http://www.facebook.com/twitter" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a>',
    'in_reply_to_user_id_str' => NULL,
    'id_str' => '106543849266098176',
    'id' => 106543849266098176,
    'contributors' => NULL,
    'place' => NULL,
    'retweeted' => false,
    'retweet_count' => 2,
    'text' => 'Want to pick up tix for Rob's Bday Show next week? Come visit us at rehearsal. 156 W Providencia in Burbank.... http://t.co/oNvw5I6',
  ),
)

Echo all the user’s avatars, names, and a date when they joined:

$data = json_decode($twitter_response);
foreach($data as $d)
{
    echo '<img src="' . $d->user->profile_image_url . '" /> ' . $d->user->screen_name . ' (since ' . $d->user->created_at . ')<br />';
}

If you are using an associative array as your json_decode output, make sure you reference the appropriate keys, like so:

foreach($data as $d)
{
    echo '<img src="' . $d['user']['profile_image_url'] . '" /> ' . $d['user']['screen_name'] . ' (since ' . $d['user']['created_at'] . ')<br />';
}

Working code: http://pastie.org/2436307 (removed single quotes in some values – just escape them or convert them when you decode/reference)