PHP: YouTube API Feed Reader: Source Code
One of the users of our RSS Feed Reader code was trying to adapt the code there to work with YouTube XML data returned through the api2_rest method youtube.videos.list_by_tag. He was having some trouble so I've adapted the code to create a new PHP class that produces a decent rendering of a list of video feeds including thumbnails and other details. Enjoy.
Embedding a YouTube API Feed as HTML
As before, the calling method has been kept extremely simple:
<?PHP
// where is the feed located?
$url = "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?q=skateboarding+dog&start-index=21&max-results=10&v=2";
// create object to hold data and display output
$parser = new YouTubeParser($url);
$output = $parser->getOutput(); // returns string containing HTML
echo $output;
?>
If you want to do more than just simple searches you will need to apply for a Developer ID key before you can access the YouTube API. To do that, register as a YouTube user and then complete a second application form under Account Settings > Developer Profile.
Please Note: before embedding any third-party video content content on your website you should check that you're not violating the YouTube Terms of Service or infringing on anyone's copyright.
Source code of YouTubeParser.php
This class is by no means the be-all and end-all of YouTube XML parsing. It's designed to be simple, functional and easily customisable. Please let me know using the Feedback link below if you have any problems or suggestions.
File: youtubeparser.php
<?PHP
namespace Chirp;
// Original PHP code by Chirp Internet: www.chirpinternet.eu
// Please acknowledge use of this code by including this header.
class YouTubeParser
{
// keeps track of current and preceding elements
var $tags = [];
// array containing all feed data
var $output = [];
// return value for display functions
var $retval = "";
// constructor for new object
public function __construct($file)
{
// instantiate xml-parser and assign event handlers
$xml_parser = xml_parser_create("");
xml_set_object($xml_parser, $this);
xml_set_element_handler($xml_parser, "startElement", "endElement");
xml_set_character_data_handler($xml_parser, "parseData");
// open file for reading and send data to xml-parser
$fp = @fopen($file, "r") or die("<b>YouTubeParser:</b> Could not open $file for input");
while($data = fread($fp, 4096)) {
xml_parse($xml_parser, $data, feof($fp)) or die(
sprintf("YouTubeParser: Error <b>%s</b> at line <b>%d</b><br>",
xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xml_parser)),
xml_get_current_line_number($xml_parser))
);
}
fclose($fp);
// dismiss xml parser
xml_parser_free($xml_parser);
}
function startElement($parser, $tagname, Array $attrs = [])
{
// capture LINK href where rel='alternate'
if(($tagname == "LINK") && $attrs['HREF'] && $attrs['REL'] && $attrs['REL'] == 'alternate') {
$this->startElement($parser, 'LINK', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['HREF']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'LINK');
}
// capture HQ image URL
if($attrs['URL'] && $attrs['HEIGHT'] && $attrs['WIDTH'] && !$attrs['TIME']) {
$this->startElement($parser, 'MEDIA:THUMBNAIL', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['URL']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'MEDIA:THUMBNAIL');
}
// capture duration
if($tagname == 'YT:DURATION') {
$this->startElement($parser, 'DURATION', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['SECONDS']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'DURATION');
}
// capture rating details
if($tagname == 'GD:RATING') {
$this->startElement($parser, 'RATING', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['AVERAGE']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'RATING');
$this->startElement($parser, 'NUMRATERS', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['NUMRATERS']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'NUMRATERS');
}
// capture statistics
if($tagname == 'YT:STATISTICS') {
$this->startElement($parser, 'FAVORITECOUNT', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['FAVORITECOUNT']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'FAVORITECOUNT');
$this->startElement($parser, 'VIEWCOUNT', []);
$this->parseData($parser, $attrs['VIEWCOUNT']);
$this->endElement($parser, 'VIEWCOUNT');
}
// check if this element can contain others - list may be edited
if(preg_match("/^(FEED|ENTRY)$/", $tagname)) {
if($this->tags) {
$depth = count($this->tags);
if(is_array($tmp = end($this->tags))) {
$parent = key($tmp);
$num = current($tmp);
if($parent) $this->tags[$depth-1][$parent][$tagname]++;
}
}
array_push($this->tags, [$tagname => []]);
} else {
// add tag to tags array
array_push($this->tags, $tagname);
}
}
function endElement($parser, $tagname)
{
// remove tag from tags array
array_pop($this->tags);
}
function parseData($parser, $data)
{
// return if data contains no text
if(!trim($data)) return;
$evalcode = "\$this->output";
foreach($this->tags as $tag) {
if(is_array($tag)) {
$tagname = key($tag);
$indexes = current($tag);
$evalcode .= "[\"$tagname\"]";
if(${$tagname}) {
$evalcode .= "[" . (${$tagname} - 1) . "]";
}
if($indexes) extract($indexes);
} else {
if(preg_match("/^([A-Z]+):([A-Z]+)$/", $tag, $matches)) {
$evalcode .= "[\"$matches[1]\"][\"$matches[2]\"]";
} else {
$evalcode .= "[\"$tag\"]";
}
}
}
eval("$evalcode = $evalcode . '" . addslashes($data) . "';");
}
// display a single channel as HTML
function display_channel($data)
{
extract($data);
$this->retval .= "<h2>" . htmlspecialchars($TITLE) . "</h2>\n";
if($SUBTITLE) $this->retval .= "<p>" . htmlspecialchars($SUBTITLE) . "</p>\n";
if($ENTRY) {
$this->retval .= "<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n";
foreach($ENTRY as $item) $this->display_item($item, "VIDEO_LIST");
$this->retval .= "</table>\n\n";
}
}
// display a single video as HTML
function display_item($data, $parent)
{
extract($data);
if(!$TITLE) return;
$this->retval .= "<tr style=\"vertical-align: top;\">\n";
$this->retval .= "<td style=\"text-align: center;\">";
if($THUMBNAIL_URL = $MEDIA['GROUP']['MEDIA']['THUMBNAIL']) {
$this->retval .= "<p>";
if($LINK) $this->retval .= "<a href=\"$LINK\" target=\"_blank\">";
$this->retval .= "<img src=\"$THUMBNAIL_URL\" border=\"0\" width=\"120\" alt=\"\">";
if($LINK) $this->retval .= "</a>";
if($DURATION = $MEDIA['GROUP']['DURATION']) {
$this->retval .= "<p><small><b>Duration:</b> " . sprintf("%02.2d:%02.2d", floor($DURATION/60), $DURATION%60) . "</small></p>";
}
$this->retval .= "</p>";
}
$this->retval .= "</td>\n";
$this->retval .= "<td>";
$this->retval .= "<h3>";
if($LINK) $this->retval .= "<a href=\"$LINK\" target=\"_blank\">";
$this->retval .= stripslashes($TITLE);
if($LINK) $this->retval .= "</a>";
if($AUTHOR) $this->retval .= " <small style=\"white-space: nowrap;\">by <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/user/{$AUTHOR['NAME']}\">{$AUTHOR['NAME']}</a></small>";
$this->retval .= "</h3>";
if($SUMMARY) {
$this->retval .= "<p>" . nl2br(htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($SUMMARY))) . "</p>\n";
} elseif($DESCRIPTION = $MEDIA['GROUP']['MEDIA']['DESCRIPTION']) {
$this->retval .= "<p>" . nl2br(htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($DESCRIPTION))) . "</p>\n";
}
$tmp = [];
if($PUBLISHED) {
$tmp[] = "<b>Added:</b> " . date('j F Y', strtotime($PUBLISHED));
} elseif($UPLOAD_TIME = $MEDIA['GROUP']['YT']['UPLOADED']) {
$tmp[] = "<b>Added:</b> " . date('j F Y', strtotime($UPLOAD_TIME));
}
if($RATING && $NUMRATERS) $tmp[] = "<b>Rating:</b> " . number_format($RATING, 2) . " (" . number_format($NUMRATERS) . " ratings)";
if($VIEWCOUNT) $tmp[] = "<b>Views:</b> " . number_format($VIEWCOUNT);
if($FAVORITECOUNT) $tmp[] = "<b>Favorite:</b> " . number_format($FAVORITECOUNT);
$this->retval .= "<p><small>";
$this->retval .= implode("; ", $tmp);
if(($TAGS = $MEDIA['GROUP']['MEDIA']['KEYWORDS']) && $TAGS = explode(' ', $TAGS)) {
$this->retval .= "<br>\n<b>Tags:</b>";
foreach($TAGS as $tmp) {
$this->retval .= " <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=$tmp&search=tag\" target=\"_blank\">$tmp</a>";
}
$this->retval .= "</small></p>\n";
}
$this->retval .= "</td>\n</tr>\n";
}
function fixEncoding(&$input, $key, $output_encoding)
{
if(!function_exists('mb_detect_encoding')) return $input;
$encoding = mb_detect_encoding($input);
switch($encoding)
{
case 'ASCII':
case $output_encoding:
break;
case '':
$input = mb_convert_encoding($input, $output_encoding);
break;
default:
$input = mb_convert_encoding($input, $output_encoding, $encoding);
}
}
// display entire feed as HTML
function getOutput($output_encoding='UTF-8')
{
$this->retval = "";
$start_tag = key($this->output);
switch($start_tag)
{
case "FEED":
// youtube xml format
$this->display_channel($this->output[$start_tag]);
break;
default:
die("Error: unrecognized start tag '$start_tag' in getOutput()");
}
if($this->retval && is_array($this->retval)) {
array_walk_recursive($this->retval, 'YouTubeParser::fixEncoding', $output_encoding);
}
return $this->retval;
}
// return raw data as array
function getRawOutput($output_encoding='UTF-8')
{
array_walk_recursive($this->output, 'YouTubeParser::fixEncoding', $output_encoding);
return $this->output;
}
}
?>
The parsing of the XML data into a PHP array is done by the YouTubeParser class using the startElement, endElement and parseData functions. The remaining functions are used only for displaying the data or accessing it as an array.
The output of this script is HTML code for a TABLE with video thumbnails in the left column and other information in the right, including: Title, Author, Description, Date Added, Rating and Tags.
Update July 2010: added support for additional fields in the output array: $MEDIA['GROUP']['DURATION'] (seconds), $FAVORITECOUNT and $VIEWCOUNT.
Sample Output
Here you can see a snapshot of the output generated by the sample code presented at the top of the page:
The thumbnails and titles are links to the relevant video page on YouTube, the author to the Author's channel and clicking on a keyword will do a tag search. Feel free to change the code any way you want.
References
Related Articles - Feed Readers
- PHP RSS Feed Reader Code Example
- PHP Combined RSS and Atom Feed Reader
- PHP Feed Reader with Ajax Updating
- PHP RSS Feed Reader: Source Code
- PHP Atom Feed Reader: Source Code
- PHP YouTube API Feed Reader: Source Code
- PHP RSS and Atom Feed Reader
- PHP Displaying and updating RSS Content using Ajax
Joyce 12 November, 2013
Just an FYI for anyone coming across this: I am getting a lot of "undefined index" and other PHP errors (PHP updated since this was posted) as well as the thumbnails for the videos not working (Youtube often changes things).