Error fetching data from youtube in xml format - php

Question

I am trying to fetch youtube videos using Youtube Data API URL. Whenever i paste the URL directly in the address bar, it perfectly shows the result. But whenever i try to use that URL in simplexml_load_file() function, i get errors. I cannot figure out what is going on.
This is how i am doing this.
$url = "https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat";
$output = simplexml_load_file($url);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($output);
echo "</pre>";
I am getting this error message.
Warning: simplexml_load_file(): SSL: The operation completed successfully. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
Notice: simplexml_load_file(): send of 38 bytes failed with errno=10054 An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
Notice: simplexml_load_file(): send of 25 bytes failed with errno=10054 An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
Notice: simplexml_load_file(): send of 2 bytes failed with errno=10054 An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
Warning: simplexml_load_file(https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
Warning: simplexml_load_file(): I/O warning : failed to load external entity "https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat" in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 23
I tried to use file_get_contents() function it also gives error.
$url = "https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat";
$output = file_get_contents($url);
echo $output;
I get these errors using above code.
Warning: file_get_contents(): php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: No such host is known. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 15
Warning: file_get_contents(https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat): failed to open stream: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: No such host is known. in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 15
I also tried to use simplexml_load_string() function it also gives error.
$url = "https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat";
$output = simplexml_load_string($url);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($output);
echo "</pre>";
The above code gives me these errors.
Warning: simplexml_load_string(): Entity: line 1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 14
Warning: simplexml_load_string(): https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 14
Warning: simplexml_load_string(): ^ in J:\xampp\htdocs\youtube\tube.php on line 14
I am using XAMPP v3.2.1 to run my script.
Please help. Thanks.

Answer 1

First you have to check that remote file access is enabled, read the PHP manual page about Using remote files.
After that, and if your firewall is not blocking connections, almost any option that you tried should work. But, in any case, here you have one using simpler commands, or at least simpler concerning what is working internally. Just a good old fopen.
// initialize variables
$url = 'https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/cat';
$content = false;
$handle = false;
// open the url/file
$handle = fopen( $url, 'r' );
// get the content from streaming
$content = stream_get_contents($handle);
// close the file reading session
fclose( $handle );
var_dump( $content );