MagicSeaweed API JSON Array - php

Question

The MSW API states:
Our API follows RESTful convention. Querying for information for a location is as simple as calling: http://magicseaweed.com/api/YOURAPIKEY/forecast/?spot_id=10
You’ll receive a JSON array consisting of a series of data representing the forecast for specific timeframes, looking like this:
[
{
"timestamp": 1367366400,
"localTimestamp": 1367366400,
"issueTimestamp": 1367366400,
"fadedRating": 0,
"solidRating": 0,
"swell": {
"minBreakingHeight": 1,
"absMinBreakingHeight": 0.504,
"maxBreakingHeight": 1,
"absMaxBreakingHeight": 0.784,
"unit": "ft",
"components": {
"combined": {
"height": 1.6,
"period": 5,
"direction": 252.47,
"compassDirection": "ENE"
},
"primary": {
"height": 0.5,
"period": 7,
"direction": 92.49,
"compassDirection": "W"
},
"secondary": {
"height": 0.2,
"period": 9,
"direction": 52.9,
"compassDirection": "SW"
},
"tertiary": {
"height": 1.5,
"period": 5,
"direction": 248.62,
"compassDirection": "ENE"
}
}
},
"wind": {
"speed": 6,
"direction": 221,
"compassDirection": "NE",
"chill": 32,
"gusts": 9,
"unit": "mph"
},
"condition": {
"pressure": 1026,
"temperature": 39,
"weather": "10",
"unitPressure": "mb",
"unit": "f"
},
"charts": {
"swell": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/wave/750/1-1367366400-1.gif",
"period": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/wave/750/1-1367366400-2.gif",
"wind": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/gfs/750/1-1367366400-4.gif",
"pressure": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/gfs/750/1-1367366400-3.gif",
"sst": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/sst/750/1-1367366400-10.gif"
}
},
{
"timestamp": 1367377200,
"localTimestamp": 1367377200,
"issueTimestamp": 1367366400,
"fadedRating": 0,
"solidRating": 0,
"swell": {
"minBreakingHeight": 0,
"absMinBreakingHeight": 0.384,
"maxBreakingHeight": 1,
"absMaxBreakingHeight": 0.6,
"unit": "ft",
"components": {
"combined": {
"height": 1.8,
"period": 4,
"direction": 266.06,
"compassDirection": "E"
},
"primary": {
"height": 0.4,
"period": 6,
"direction": 92.53,
"compassDirection": "W"
},
"secondary": {
"height": 0.2,
"period": 9,
"direction": 52.72,
"compassDirection": "SW"
},
"tertiary": {
"height": 1.8,
"period": 4,
"direction": 258.73,
"compassDirection": "ENE"
}
}
},
"wind": {
"speed": 5,
"direction": 255,
"compassDirection": "ENE",
"chill": 34,
"gusts": 7,
"unit": "mph"
},
"condition": {
"pressure": 1025,
"temperature": 41,
"weather": "10",
"unitPressure": "mb",
"unit": "f"
},
"charts": {
"swell": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/wave/750/1-1367377200-1.gif",
"period": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/wave/750/1-1367377200-2.gif",
"wind": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/gfs/750/1-1367377200-4.gif",
"pressure": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/gfs/750/1-1367377200-3.gif",
"sst": "htt://chart-1-us.msw.ms/sst/750/1-1367377200-10.gif"
}
}, THIS CONTINUES ON UNTIL THE END OF THE ARRAY
How do I go about calling on the JSON Array and how can I assign a variable to each item (or access each item to use later in html etc.)?
Thanks.

Answer 1

OK, so if you're using PHP it's easy to access the JSON data, just use the json_decode function so you can access the data as a PHP array and work with it easily.
Your code should follow this tasks:
Load the JSON data from the MagicSeaweed API URL;
Decode the JSON into a PHP array;
Process the PHP array and retrieve the fields you want.
In the following code you just need to replace MYAPIKEY with your real APIKEY, uncomment the line $json = file_get_contents("magicseaweed.com/api/MYAPIKEY/forecast/?spot_id=10"); and comment the other line that's assigning the $json variable with the JSON subset example.
Code:
<?php
// You should fetch the JSON data from the remote location the same
// $json = file_get_contents("magicseaweed.com/api/MYAPIKEY/forecast/?spot_id=10");
// This is just a subset JSON data for this example
$json = '[{"timestamp":1367452800,"localTimestamp":1367452800,"issueTimestamp":1367452800,"fadedRating":0,"solidRating":0,"swell":{"minBreakingHeight":0,"absMinBreakingHeight":0,"maxBreakingHeight":0,"absMaxBreakingHeight":0,"unit":"ft","components":{"combined":{"height":2.5,"period":4,"direction":159.26,"compassDirection":"NNW"},"primary":{"height":1.9,"period":4,"direction":158.68,"compassDirection":"NNW"},"secondary":{"height":1.4,"period":5,"direction":255.73,"compassDirection":"ENE"}}},"wind":{"speed":8,"direction":182,"compassDirection":"N","chill":34,"gusts":13,"unit":"mph"},"condition":{"pressure":1024,"temperature":41,"weather":"10","unitPressure":"mb","unit":"f"},"charts":{"swell":"http:\/\/chart-1-us.msw.ms\/wave\/750\/1-1367452800-1.gif","period":"http:\/\/chart-1-us.msw.ms\/wave\/750\/1-1367452800-2.gif","wind":"http:\/\/chart-1-us.msw.ms\/gfs\/750\/1-1367452800-4.gif","pressure":"http:\/\/chart-1-us.msw.ms\/gfs\/750\/1-1367452800-3.gif","sst":"http:\/\/chart-1-us.msw.ms\/sst\/750\/1-1367452800-10.gif"}}]';
// Decode the JSON data into a PHP array using 'true'
// as 2nd argument of the json_decode function
$data = json_decode($json, true);
// Iterate each of the records and access the data as needed
foreach ($data as $record) {
echo "Timestamp: {$record['timestamp']}\n";
echo "Wind speed: {$record['wind']['speed']}\n";
echo "Temperature: {$record['condition']['temperature']}\n";
}
Output:
Timestamp: 1367452800
Wind speed: 8
Temperature: 41