JSON stub string delivered via php - php

Question

I would like to make a web service stub where I can test my client. I have written down
some JSON like this:
{
"response": {
"success": true,
"meta" : "tags",
"data": [
{
"first_name" : "John",
"last_name" : "Doe",
"age" : 30
},
{
"first_name" : "Jane",
"last_name" : "Doe",
"age" : 25
}
]
}
}
I have no PHP experience to talk about.
How can I make a
webserver.com/get_names.php?first_name=john&last_name=doe&age=30
script that returns the above JSON.
It should not do any evaluation on the parameters, that is just how it will end up being called when implemented against a server, I would just like it to return the JSON string correctly so my JSON parser can run through it as if it was the actual server response.
Hope someone can help me out, thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Save the JSON string as-is and call the file get_names.php. Don't forget to pick UTF-8 in your editor's save as dialogue. Nothing will be parsed as PHP if there isn't a single <?php string in the file.
You may also want to put this on top of the file:
<?php
header('Content-Type: application/json');
?>

Answer 2

This is usually referred to as an API, and can be developed on many levels.
First level would be standard streamline php, where you would have code that follows the general php coding.
$Action = isset($_GET["action"]) ? $_GET["action"] : false;
switch($Action)
{
case 'get_names':
//fetch data and display.
break;
}
The next method and the simplest would be to use an MVC Application Framework, I would recommend Code Igniter for this as tis bigginner friendly and the URI Structure is similar to an API Soap Server.
After copying your CI Files to your /api/ path, you would go threw the guide and configure your database,libraries,helpers etc, you would also use mod_rewrite to set up the URI Convention to get urls such as /api/get/games/API_KEY
your class would look like so:
class Get extends Controller
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::Controller();
}
public function games($Api = false,$limit = 10, $offset = 0)
{
if(!$Api)
{
show_error("API Key require to fetch games");
}
if(your_api_check($api) === true)
{
//Load the games
$games = $this->models->games->get($limit,$offset);
$this->output->send(json_encode($games));
}
}
}
Obviously more extensive checking with the validation of the params but you will get the gist of it.
The next level would be very complex for your self but if you wish to persue the idea then you may want to look into Simple Object Access Protocol but ill leave that for you to decide.
Links:
Codeigniter
RESTful with Codeigniter
Restful with CodeIgniter #2
Codeigniter XMLRPC Services

Answer 3

You could save this as get_names.php on your web server.
<?php
$my_associative_array = array(
'response' => array(
'success' => true,
'meta' => 'tags',
'data' => array(
array(
'first_name' => 'John',
'last-name' => 'Doe',
'age' => 30,
),
array(
'first_name' => 'Jane',
'last_name' => 'Doe',
'age' => 25
),
),
),
);
echo json_encode($my_associative_array);
Alternatively, you could just create a .txt file that looks precisely like your JSON.
You could also just point it to my server, where the above script is operational: http://dorkitude.com/example_4725873.php