Question

I am trying to programatically perform a search on Microsoft Bing search engine.

Here is my understanding:

• There was a Bing Search API 2.0 , which will be replaced soon (1st Aug 2012)
• The new API is known as Windows Azure Marketplace.
• You use different URL for the two.

In the old API (Bing Search API 2.0), you specify a key (Application ID) in the URL, and such key will be used to authenticate the request. As long as you have the key as a parameter in the URL, you can obtain the results.

In the new API (Windows Azure Marketplace), you do NOT include the key (Account Key) in the URL. Instead, you put in a query URL, then the server will ask for your credentials. When using a browser, there will be a pop-up asking for a/c name and password. Instruction was to leave the account name blank and insert your key in the password field.

Okay, I have done all that and I can see a JSON-formatted results of my search on my browser page.

How do I do this programmatically in PHP? I tried searching for the documentation and sample code from Microsoft MSDN library, but I was either searching in the wrong place, or there are extremely limited resources in there.

Would anyone be able to tell me how do you do the “enter the key in the password field in the pop-up” part in PHP please?

Thanks alot in advance.

Answer 1

Documentation for new services can get a bit interesting – especially in the rabbit-warren of MSDN. The most clear explanation I can find is on the Migration Guide from this Bing Search API page. Best of all the migration guide has a nice simple example in PHP towards the end.

EDIT: Alright, the migration guide is a starting point, but it isn’t the best example. Here are two methods that work for me (no proxy, firewalls etc. interfering):

Using file_get_contents

Note: ‘allow_url_fopen‘ needs to be enabled for this to work. You can use ini_set (or change php.ini etc.) if it isn’t.

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) 
{

    // Replace this value with your account key
    $accountKey = 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=';            
    $ServiceRootURL =  'https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Bing/Search/';                    
    $WebSearchURL = $ServiceRootURL . 'Web?$format=json&Query=';

    $cred = sprintf('Authorization: Basic %s', 
      base64_encode($accountKey . ":" . $accountKey) );

    $context = stream_context_create(array(
        'http' => array(
            'header'  => $cred
        )
    ));

    $request = $WebSearchURL . urlencode( '\'' . $_POST["searchText"] . '\'');

    $response = file_get_contents($request, 0, $context);

    $jsonobj = json_decode($response);

    echo('<ul ID="resultList">');

    foreach($jsonobj->d->results as $value)
    {                        
        echo('<li class="resultlistitem"><a href="' 
                . $value->URL . '">'.$value->Title.'</a>');
    }

    echo("</ul>");
}

Using cURL

If cURL is installed, which is normal these days:

<?php
  $query = $_POST['searchText'];

  $accountKey = 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA';
  $serviceRootURL =  'https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Bing/Search/';  
  $webSearchURL = $serviceRootURL . 'Web?$format=json&Query=';

  $request = $webSearchURL . "%27" . urlencode( "$query" ) . "%27";

  $process = curl_init($request);
  curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC);
  curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_USERPWD,  "$accountKey:$accountKey");
  curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
  curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
  $response = curl_exec($process);
  $response = json_decode($response);

  echo "<ol>";
  foreach( $response->d->results as $result ) {
    $url = $result->Url;
    $title = $result->Title;

    echo "<li><a href='$url'>$title</a></li>";
  }
  echo "</ol>";
?>

[WTS] changed SearchWeb to Search.