Output PHP Parser Script Variables to PHP form via Sessions - php

Question

New to PHP, so bear with me...
I'm trying to send/make available the output variables from this simpleXml parser script to this other PHP file, which is supposed to send data to Brightcove's Media API.
Sending Script:
<?php
session_name("FeedParse");
session_start();
$_SESSION['bcName'] = $title;
$_SESSION['shortDescription'] = $description;
$_SESSION['remoteUrl'] = $videoFile;
$html = "";
$url = "http://feeds.nascar.com/feeds/video?command=search_videos&media_delivery=http&custom_fields=adtitle%2cfranchise&page_size=100&sort_by=PUBLISH_DATE:DESC&token=217e0d96-bd4a-4451-88ec-404debfaf425&any=franchise:%20Preview%20Show&any=franchise:%20Weekend%20Top%205&any=franchise:Up%20to%20Speed&any=franchise:Press%20Pass&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Practice%20Clips&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Highlights&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&any=franchise:All%20Access&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Qualifying%20Clips&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Highlights&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Qualifying%20Clips&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Highlights&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&output=mrss";
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
$namespaces = $xml->getNamespaces(true); // get namespaces
for($i = 0; $i < 50; $i++){ // will return the 50 most recent videos
$title = $xml->channel->item[$i]->video;
$link = $xml->channel->item[$i]->link;
$title = $xml->channel->item[$i]->title;
$pubDate = $xml->channel->item[$i]->pubDate;
$description = $xml->channel->item[$i]->description;
$titleid = $xml->channel->item[$i]->children($namespaces['bc'])->titleid;
$m_attrs = $xml->channel->item[$i]->children($namespaces['media'])->content[0]->attributes();
$videoFile = $m_attrs["url"];
$html .= //"<h3>$title</h3>$description<p>$pubDate<p>$url<p>Video ID: $titleid<p>
print $title;
print $description;
print $videoFile;
// echo $html;/* tutorial for this script is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZLZkdiKGE0 */
}
//http://support.brightcove.com/en/video-cloud/docs/media-write-api-php-example-upload-video
?>
Receiving Script:
<?php
session_start();
$title = $_SESSION['bcName'];
$description = $_SESSION['shortDescription'];
$videoFile = $_SESSION['remoteUrl'];
// Instantiate the Brightcove class
$bc = new Brightcove(
'//readtoken//', //Read Token BC
'//writetoken//' //Write Token BC
);
// Set the data for the new video DTO using the form values
$metaData = array(
'$title' => $_POST['bcName'],
'$description' => $_POST['bcShortDescription'],
);
//changed all the code below to what i think works for remoteUrl and URLs as opposed to actual video files
// Rename the file to its original file name (instead of temp names like "a445ertd3")
$url = $_URL['remoteUrl'];
//rename($url['tmp_name'], '/tmp/' . $url['name']);
//$url = '/tmp/' . $url['name'];
// Send the file to Brightcove
//Actually, this has been changed to send URL to BC, not file
echo $bc->createVideo($url,$metaData);
class Brightcove {
public $token_read = 'UmILcDyAFKzjtWO90HNzc67X-wLZK_OUEZliwd9b3lZPWosBPgm1AQ..'; //Read Token from USA Today Sports BC
public $token_write = 'svP0oJ8lx3zVkIrMROb6gEkMW6wlX_CK1MoJxTbIajxdn_ElL8MZVg..'; //Write Token from USA Today Sports BC
public $read_url = 'http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?';
public $write_url = 'http://api.brightcove.com/services/post';
public function __construct($token_read, $token_write = NULL ) {
$this->token_read = $token_read;
$this->token_write = $token_write;
}
public function createVideo($url = NULL, $meta) {
$request = array();
$post = array();
$params = array();
$video = array();
foreach($meta as $key => $value) {
$video[$key] = $value;
}
$params['token'] = $this->token_write;
$params['video'] = $video;
$post['method'] = 'create_video';
$post['params'] = $params;
$request['json'] = json_encode($post);
if($file) {
$request['file'] = '#' . $file;
}
// Utilize CURL library to handle HTTP request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $this->write_url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $request);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, TRUE );
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 300);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 300);
$response = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);
// Responses are transfered in JSON, decode into PHP object
$json = json_decode($response);
// Check request error code and re-call createVideo if request
// returned a 213 error. A 213 error occurs when you have
// exceeded your allowed number of concurrent write requests
if(isset($json->error)) {
if($json->error->code == 213) {
return $this->createVideo($url, $meta);
} else {
return FALSE;
}
} else {
return $response;
}
}
}
?>​
Did I set up sessions to work correctly here? Any ideas on why the receiving PHP script isn't picking up the data/variables outputted by the PHP feed parser script?

Answer 1

In your sending script, it looks like you're setting the session variables at the beginning of the script and you're expecting them to get updated whenever the local variable changes. This won't happen with the way you've written it.
You could make this happen by assigning the variables by reference, by putting an ampersand (&) before the local variable name, but this can get kinda tricky in some scenarios, and it might be best to skip that headache and instead just update the session variable directly.
However, another issue is that you're attempting to store multiple values (50, as indicated by the code comments) into a scalar session variable. So every time your loop iterates, it would overwrite the previous value. Perhaps what would be better would be to use an array structure:
<?php
session_name("FeedParse");
session_start();
$_SESSION['videos'] = array(); // initialize a session variable 'videos' to be an array
$url = "http://feeds.nascar.com/feeds/video?command=search_videos&media_delivery=http&custom_fields=adtitle%2cfranchise&page_size=100&sort_by=PUBLISH_DATE:DESC&token=217e0d96-bd4a-4451-88ec-404debfaf425&any=franchise:%20Preview%20Show&any=franchise:%20Weekend%20Top%205&any=franchise:Up%20to%20Speed&any=franchise:Press%20Pass&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Practice%20Clips&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Highlights&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Sprint%20Cup%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&any=franchise:All%20Access&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Qualifying%20Clips&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Highlights&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Nationwide%20Series%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Qualifying%20Clips&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Highlights&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Final%20Laps&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Victory%20Lane&any=franchise:Truck%20Series%20Post%20Race%20Reactions&output=mrss";
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
$namespaces = $xml->getNamespaces(true); // get namespaces
for($i = 0; $i < 50; $i++){ // will return the 50 most recent videos
$m_attrs = $xml->channel->item[$i]->children($namespaces['media'])->content[0]->attributes();
// on each loop iteration, create a new array structure with the video info in it and
// push it onto the 'video' array session variable
$video = array(
'bcName' => $xml->channel->item[$i]->video,
'shortDescription' => $xml->channel->item[$i]->description,
'remoteUrl' => $m_attrs["url"],
);
$_SESSION['videos'][] = $video;
}
Then, on your receiving script, you'll loop through $_SESSION['videos']:
<?php
session_start();
// Instantiate the Brightcove class
$bc = new Brightcove(
'UmILcDyAFKzjtWO90HNzc67X-wLZK_OUEZliwd9b3lZPWosBPgm1AQ..', //Read Token from USA Today Sports BC
'svP0oJ8lx3zVkIrMROb6gEkMW6wlX_CK1MoJxTbIajxdn_ElL8MZVg..' //Write Token from USA Today Sports BC
foreach ((array)$_SESSION['videos'] as $video) {
$title = $video['bcName'];
$description = $video['shortDescription'];
$videoFile = $video['remoteUrl'];
// The code below this line may need to be adjusted. It does not seem quite right.
// Are you actually sending anything to this script via POST? Or should those just
// be the values we set above?
// What is $_URL? Should that just be the $videoFile value?
// Set the data for the new video DTO using the form values
$metaData = array(
'$title' => $_POST['bcName'],
'$description' => $_POST['bcShortDescription'],
);
//changed all the code below to what i think works for remoteUrl and URLs as opposed to actual video files
// Rename the file to its original file name (instead of temp names like "a445ertd3")
$url = $_URL['remoteUrl'];
//rename($url['tmp_name'], '/tmp/' . $url['name']);
//$url = '/tmp/' . $url['name'];
// Send the file to Brightcove
//Actually, this has been changed to send URL to BC, not file
echo $bc->createVideo($url,$metaData);
}
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Keep in mind that this will call the API once for each video in the session (sounds like up to 50 each time). So you'll be making 50 cURL requests on each run of this script. That seems a bit heavy, but perhaps that's expected. It would be worth investigating if their API allows you to compile the data into one call and send it all up at once, as opposed to connecting, sending the data, parsing the response, and disconnecting, 50 times.