Accessing information in multidimensional PHP array

Question

I am trying to format some data for a display screen. I am using the National Rail Live Departure Board Web Service to search for the trains departing from our local station.

I am using a php script called OpenLDBWS.php (h/t RailAleFan on github) to connect to the LDBWS. The connection works fine, but I am struggling to access the arrays that it generates in order to display the results I want.

So this code:

  <?php
require 'OpenLDBWS.php';
$OpenLDBWS = new OpenLDBWS("MY LDBWS API KEY HERE");
$result = $OpenLDBWS->GetDepartureBoard(1, "BHM");
header ("Content-Type: text/plain");
print_r($result);
?>

Will generate this result:

     stdClass Object
(
    [GetStationBoardResult] => stdClass Object
        (
            [generatedAt] => 2016-02-03T16:11:20.1570854+00:00
            [locationName] => Birmingham New Street
            [crs] => BHM
            [nrccMessages] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [message] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => stdClass Object
                                (
                                    [_] => <P>Disruption&nbsp;between Carlisle and&nbsp;Glasgow Central / Edinburgh. More details can be found in <A href="http://nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/117252.aspx">Latest Travel News</A>.</P>
                                )

                            [1] => stdClass Object
                                (
                                    [_] => Disruption between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston / Clapham Junction. More details can be found in <A href="http://nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/119008.aspx">Latest Travel News. </A>
                                )

                        )

                )

            [platformAvailable] => 1
            [trainServices] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [service] => stdClass Object
                        (
                            [std] => 16:05
                            [etd] => 16:09
                            [platform] => 8
                            [operator] => London Midland
                            [operatorCode] => LM
                            [serviceType] => train
                            [serviceID] => m+0v++xnRsACKmZqgUZwAg==
                            [origin] => stdClass Object
                                (
                                    [location] => stdClass Object
                                        (
                                            [locationName] => Longbridge
                                            [crs] => LOB
                                        )

                                )

                            [destination] => stdClass Object
                                (
                                    [location] => stdClass Object
                                        (
                                            [locationName] => Lichfield City
                                            [crs] => LIC
                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

        )

)

What I really want is to discount a great deal of this information display certain fields, such as [std] [etd] etc.

I am stuck because I know that the information is an array, but I don't seem to be able to get at contents to begin to print the information I want. If I take the print_r out and replace it with an echo "$result" it just displays a blank screen.

I realise that this is a very beginner question, and I'm probably missing something obvious, but any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Try:

echo $result->GetStationBoardResult->trainServices->service->std;
echo $result->GetStationBoardResult->trainServices->service->etd;

Answer 2

$result is not a string, therefore it can't be echo'd. Its an object thats being returned from the API.

You would need to access its parameters like:

echo $result->GetStationBoardResult->locationName

here is a really good explanation of what you have.