PHP XML API - output in error log but not on screen!

[benwiggy]

Hi guys, bit of a noob but with some difficultly I've managed to get to the following stage. The code receives the data but doesn't output it on screen - just to the error log - any help much appreciated.

include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/includes/xmlapi.php");

$ip = $_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'];

$user = "[obscured]";
$password = "[obscured]";

$xmlapi = new xmlapi($ip);
$xmlapi->set_port(2082);
$xmlapi->password_auth($user, $password);
$xmlapi->set_debug(1);
print $xmlapi->api2_query($user, "Email", "listpopswithdisk"); 

Page is blank but I get this output in the error log:

[27-May-2011 11:14:00] URL: http://[obscured]:2082/xml-api/cpanel
[27-May-2011 11:14:00] DATA: cpanel_xmlapi_user=[obscured]&cpanel_xmlapi_module=Email&cpanel_xmlapi_func=listpopswithdisk&cpanel_xmlapi_apiversion=2
[27-May-2011 11:14:00] Authentication Header: Authorization: Basic [obscured]==



[27-May-2011 11:14:00] RESPONSE:
 <?xml version="1.0" ?>
  <cpanelresult>
    <apiversion>2</apiversion>
    <data>
      <_diskquota>262144000</_diskquota>
      <_diskused>12456556</_diskused>
      <diskquota>250</diskquota>
      <diskused>11.88</diskused>
      <diskusedpercent>4</diskusedpercent>
      <diskusedpercent20>0</diskusedpercent20>
      <domain>[obscured].com</domain>
      <email>admin@[obscured].com</email>
      <humandiskquota>250 MB</humandiskquota>
      <humandiskused>11.88 MB</humandiskused>
      <login>admin@[obscured].com</login>
      <mtime>1306509011</mtime>
      <txtdiskquota>250</txtdiskquota>
      <user>admin</user>
    </data>
    <data>
      <_diskquota>52428800</_diskquota>
      <_diskused>0</_diskused>
      <diskquota>50</diskquota>
      <diskused>0</diskused>
      <diskusedpercent>0</diskusedpercent>
      <diskusedpercent20>0</diskusedpercent20>
      <domain>[obscured].com</domain>
      <email>recruiting@[obscured].com</email>
      <humandiskquota>50 MB</humandiskquota>
      <humandiskused>None</humandiskused>
      <login>recruiting@[obscured].com</login>
      <mtime>1306509011</mtime>
      <txtdiskquota>50</txtdiskquota>
      <user>recruiting</user>
    </data>
    <event>
      <result>1</result>
    </event>
    <func>listpopswithdisk</func>
    <module>Email</module>
  </cpanelresult>

[27-May-2011 11:14:00] SimpleXML var_dump:
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [apiversion] => 2
    [data] => Array
        (
            [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [_diskquota] => 262144000
                    [_diskused] => 12456556
                    [diskquota] => 250
                    [diskused] => 11.88
                    [diskusedpercent] => 4
                    [diskusedpercent20] => 0
                    [domain] => [obscured].com
                    [email] => admin@[obscured].com
                    [humandiskquota] => 250 MB
                    [humandiskused] => 11.88 MB
                    [login] => admin@[obscured].com
                    [mtime] => 1306509011
                    [txtdiskquota] => 250
                    [user] => admin
                )

            [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [_diskquota] => 52428800
                    [_diskused] => 0
                    [diskquota] => 50
                    [diskused] => 0
                    [diskusedpercent] => 0
                    [diskusedpercent20] => 0
                    [domain] => [obscured].com
                    [email] => recruiting@[obscured].com
                    [humandiskquota] => 50 MB
                    [humandiskused] => None
                    [login] => recruiting@[obscured].com
                    [mtime] => 1306509011
                    [txtdiskquota] => 50
                    [user] => recruiting
                )

        )

    [event] => SimpleXMLElement Object
        (
            [result] => 1
        )

    [func] => listpopswithdisk
    [module] => Email
)

[cPanelDavidN]

Hi benwiggy,

I suspect that nothing is being render to screen (buffer/html page that is served) is because performing a 'print' as follows is technically an error:

print $xmlapi->api2_query($user, "Email", "listpopswithdisk");  //likely will be an error 

By default, the PHP XML-API client class will return a SimpleXML object (which we know is getting created since it's in you debug output). But if we try to 'echo' or 'print' a non-scalar variable (ie, array, object, boolean, or resource) then we won't get it's stored value, but instead unexpected output (IIRC, 'echo' will print the variable type name; not sure about print).

Anyway, you have several options.
1) instead of 'print', you could assign it to a variable and iterate over the SimpleXML object, possibly with value tests, etc --this would be the most involved especially if you were not sure of the output structure or if you used a generic "render" function for all query methods, but this is what I see most people do.

2) instead of 'print', you could assign it to a variable and use 'var_dump()' on the variable...it should render identically to the SimpleXML structure in the debug output. -- really, this is just good for verifying the query method returned usable data without you having to look as the error_log or change the error_log/display_errors settings in you script.

3) use $xmlapi->set_output($my_output_type) where $my_output_type is either 'json', 'array', or 'xml'. This cause the output of the query methods to be modified as follows. 'json' will return a JSON string that you must parse yourself (likely with 'json_decode()', if you are PHP >= 5.2). 'array' will, obviously, return an associative array (with deeply nested, possibly ordinal or associative array, data). And 'xml' gives the SimpleXML object (the default).

Give that a go, I think that should solve the blank page thing.

Regards,
-DavidN

[benwiggy]

Hi David,

I'm hugely grateful for the reply - you're absolutely right and thank you for the detailed set of options.

(2) helped me with debugging and (3) was just the ticket as far as interpreting the output is concerned.

I found the print_r function very helpful when interpreting the data (returned as an array - using the set_output feature)

Thank you very much again - I'm now on track.

Best,
Ben