PHP function to get data from web service

Question

How can I get data from this web service using PHP?

I need a simple PHP function to list the countries.

Web service Data

{
   "valid":true,
   "id":"0",
   "data":{
      "@type":"genericObjectArray",
      "item":[
         {
            "id":"DE",
            "description":"Deutschland"
         },
         {
            "id":"ES",
            "description":"España"
         },
         {
            "id":"FR",
            "description":"France"
         },
         {
            "id":"PT",
            "description":"Portugal"
         },
         {
            "id":"UK",
            "description":"United Kingdom"
         },
         {
            "id":"US",
            "description":"United States"
         }
      ]
   }
}

Answer 1

Assuming allow_url_fopen is on in php.ini (if not, use cURL library).

$json = file_get_contents('http://onleague.stormrise.pt:8031/OnLeagueRest/resources/onleague/Utils/Countries ');

$data = json_decode($json, TRUE);

$countries = array(); 

foreach($data['data']['item'] as $item) {
    $countries[] = $item['description'];
}

CodePad.

Of course, handle if $json is FALSE (error with request).

Alternatively, if using >= PHP 5.3.

$countries = array_map(function($item) {
    return $item['description'];
}, $data['data']['item']); 

CodePad.