Bing Search API in PHP - missing webPages property in json response - php

Question

I am trying to get search results as per the api documentation
Here is what I wrote in PHP
require_once 'HTTP/Request2.php';
$api_key = 'my_bing_search_api_key';
$url_encoded_keyword = urlencode('animation concepts and tutorials');
$request = new \Http_Request2('https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/bing/v5.0/search');
$headers = [
'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key' => $api_key
];
$request->setHeader($headers);
$url = $request->getUrl();
$parameters = [
'q' => $url_encoded_keyword,
'count' => '10',
'offset' => '0',
'safesearch' => 'Strict',
);
$url->setQueryVariables($parameters);
$request->setMethod(\HTTP_Request2::METHOD_GET);
$request->setBody("{body}");
$search_result = null;
try {
$response = $request->send();
$search_results = json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
return $search_results;
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
return [];
}
I am getting response but it is not having webPages property. It has _type, rankingResponse, relatedSearches and videos properties only.
I tested the same request in the api console. There I am getting the webPages property in the json response.
Any ideas what could have been the reason why I am not getting the webPages in PHP but works on microsoft's api tester site?

Answer 1

From the code snippet, you are passing the keyword to Bing web search API after encoding it.
$url_encoded_keyword = urlencode('animation concepts and tutorials');
$parameters = [
'q' => $url_encoded_keyword,
'count' => '10',
'offset' => '0',
'safesearch' => 'Strict',
);
Try without encoding the keyword. From their API testing console, HTTP request for the same keyword would appear as
https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/bing/v5.0/search?q=animation
concepts and tutorials&count=10&offset=0&mkt=en-us&safesearch=Moderate