ZendService\Amazon

Introduction

ZendService\Amazon\Amazon is a simple API for using Amazon web services. ZendService\Amazon\Amazon has two APIs: a more traditional one that follows Amazon’s own API, and a simpler “Query API” for constructing even complex search queries easily.

ZendService\Amazon\Amazon enables developers to retrieve information appearing throughout Amazon.com web sites directly through the Amazon Web Services API. Examples include:

  • Store item information, such as images, descriptions, pricing, and more
  • Customer and editorial reviews
  • Similar products and accessories
  • Amazon.com offers
  • ListMania lists

In order to use ZendService\Amazon\Amazon, you should already have an Amazon developer API key as well as a secret key. To get a key and for more information, please visit the Amazon Web Services web site. As of August 15th, 2009 you can only use the Amazon Product Advertising API through ZendService\Amazon\Amazon, when specifying the additional secret key.

Note

Attention

Your Amazon developer API and secret keys are linked to your Amazon identity, so take appropriate measures to keep them private.

Search Amazon Using the Traditional API

In this example, we search for PHP books at Amazon and loop through the results, printing them.

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$amazon = new ZendService\Amazon\Amazon('AMAZON_API_KEY', 'US', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$results = $amazon->itemSearch(array('SearchIndex' => 'Books',
                                     'Keywords' => 'php'));
foreach ($results as $result) {
    echo $result->Title . '<br />';
}

Search Amazon Using the Query API

Here, we also search for PHP books at Amazon, but we instead use the Query API, which resembles the Fluent Interface design pattern.

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$query = new ZendService\Amazon\Query('AMAZON_API_KEY',
                                       'US',
                                       'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$query->category('Books')->Keywords('PHP');
$results = $query->search();
foreach ($results as $result) {
    echo $result->Title . '<br />';
}

Country Codes

By default, ZendService\Amazon\Amazon connects to the United States (“US”) Amazon web service. To connect from a different country, simply specify the appropriate country code string as the second parameter to the constructor:

Choosing an Amazon Web Service Country

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// Connect to Amazon in Japan
$amazon = new ZendService\Amazon\Amazon('AMAZON_API_KEY', 'JP', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');

Note

Country codes

Valid country codes are: CA, DE, FR, JP, UK, and US.

Looking up a Specific Amazon Item by ASIN

The itemLookup() method provides the ability to fetch a particular Amazon item when the ASIN is known.

Looking up a Specific Amazon Item by ASIN

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$amazon = new ZendService\Amazon\Amazon('AMAZON_API_KEY', 'US', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$item = $amazon->itemLookup('B0000A432X');

The itemLookup() method also accepts an optional second parameter for handling search options. For full details, including a list of available options, please see the relevant Amazon documentation.

Note

Image information

To retrieve images information for your search results, you must set ResponseGroup option to Medium or Large.

Performing Amazon Item Searches

Searching for items based on any of various available criteria are made simple using the itemSearch() method, as in the following example:

Performing Amazon Item Searches

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$amazon = new ZendService\Amazon\Amazon('AMAZON_API_KEY', 'US', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$results = $amazon->itemSearch(array('SearchIndex' => 'Books',
                                     'Keywords' => 'php'));
foreach ($results as $result) {
    echo $result->Title . '<br />';
}

Using the ResponseGroup Option

The ResponseGroup option is used to control the specific information that will be returned in the response.

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$amazon = new ZendService\Amazon\Amazon('AMAZON_API_KEY', 'US', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$results = $amazon->itemSearch(array(
    'SearchIndex'   => 'Books',
    'Keywords'      => 'php',
    'ResponseGroup' => 'Small,ItemAttributes,Images,SalesRank,Reviews,' .
                       'EditorialReview,Similarities,ListmaniaLists'
    ));
foreach ($results as $result) {
    echo $result->Title . '<br />';
}

The itemSearch() method accepts a single array parameter for handling search options. For full details, including a list of available options, please see the relevant Amazon documentation

Tip

The ZendServiceAmazonQuery class is an easy to use wrapper around this method.

Using the Alternative Query API

Introduction

ZendService\Amazon\Query provides an alternative API for using the Amazon Web Service. The alternative API uses the Fluent Interface pattern. That is, all calls can be made using chained method calls. (e.g., $obj->method()->method2($arg))

The ZendService\Amazon\Query API uses overloading to easily set up an item search and then allows you to search based upon the criteria specified. Each of the options is provided as a method call, and each method’s argument corresponds to the named option’s value:

Search Amazon Using the Alternative Query API

In this example, the alternative query API is used as a fluent interface to specify options and their respective values:

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$query = new ZendService\Amazon\Query('MY_API_KEY', 'US', 'AMAZON_SECRET_KEY');
$query->Category('Books')->Keywords('PHP');
$results = $query->search();
foreach ($results as $result) {
    echo $result->Title . '<br />';
}

This sets the option Category to “Books” and Keywords to “PHP”.

For more information on the available options, please refer to the relevant Amazon documentation.

ZendService\Amazon Classes

The following classes are all returned by ZendServiceAmazonAmazon::itemLookup() and ZendServiceAmazonAmazon::itemSearch():

ZendService\Amazon\Item

ZendService\Amazon\Item is the class type used to represent an Amazon item returned by the web service. It encompasses all of the items attributes, including title, description, reviews, etc.

ZendService\Amazon\Item::asXML()

string:asXML()

Return the original XML for the item

Properties

ZendService\Amazon\Item has a number of properties directly related to their standard Amazon API counterparts.

ZendServiceAmazonItem Properties
Name Type Description
ASIN string Amazon Item ID
DetailPageURL string URL to the Items Details Page
SalesRank int Sales Rank for the Item
SmallImage ZendServiceAmazonImage Small Image of the Item
MediumImage ZendServiceAmazonImage Medium Image of the Item
LargeImage ZendServiceAmazonImage Large Image of the Item
Subjects array Item Subjects
Offers ZendServiceAmazonOfferSet Offer Summary and Offers for the Item
CustomerReviews array Customer reviews represented as an array of ZendServiceAmazonCustomerReview objects
EditorialReviews array Editorial reviews represented as an array of ZendServiceAmazonEditorialReview objects
SimilarProducts array Similar Products represented as an array of ZendServiceAmazonSimilarProduct objects
Accessories array Accessories for the item represented as an array of ZendServiceAmazonAccessories objects
Tracks array An array of track numbers and names for Music CDs and DVDs
ListmaniaLists array Item related Listmania Lists as an array of ZendServiceAmazonListmaniaList objects
PromotionalTag string Item Promotional Tag

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ZendService\Amazon\Image

ZendService\Amazon\Image represents a remote Image for a product.

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonImage Properties
Name Type Description
Url ZendUriUri Remote URL for the Image
Height int The Height of the image in pixels
Width int The Width of the image in pixels

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ZendService\Amazon\ResultSet

ZendService\Amazon\ResultSet objects are returned by ZendServiceAmazonAmazon::itemSearch() and allow you to easily handle the multiple results returned.

Note

SeekableIterator

Implements the SeekableIterator for easy iteration (e.g. using foreach), as well as direct access to a specific result using seek().

ZendService\Amazon\ResultSet::totalResults()

int:totalResults() Returns the total number of results returned by the search

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ZendService\Amazon\OfferSet

Each result returned by ZendServiceAmazonAmazon::itemSearch() and ZendServiceAmazonAmazon::itemLookup() contains a ZendService\Amazon\OfferSet object through which pricing information for the item can be retrieved.

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonOfferSet Properties
Name Type Description
LowestNewPrice int Lowest Price for the item in “New” condition
LowestNewPriceCurrency string The currency for the LowestNewPrice
LowestOldPrice int Lowest Price for the item in “Used” condition
LowestOldPriceCurrency string The currency for the LowestOldPrice
TotalNew int Total number of “new” condition available for the item
TotalUsed int Total number of “used” condition available for the item
TotalCollectible int Total number of “collectible” condition available for the item
TotalRefurbished int Total number of “refurbished” condition available for the item
Offers array An array of ZendServiceAmazonOffer objects.

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ZendService\Amazon\Offer

Each offer for an item is returned as an ZendService\Amazon\Offer object.

Properties

Properties
Name Type Description
MerchantId string Merchants Amazon ID
MerchantName string Merchants Amazon Name. Requires setting the ResponseGroup option to OfferFull to retrieve.
GlancePage string URL for a page with a summary of the Merchant
Condition string Condition of the item
OfferListingId string ID of the Offer Listing
Price int Price for the item
CurrencyCode string Currency Code for the price of the item
Availability string Availability of the item
IsEligibleForSuperSaverShipping boolean Whether the item is eligible for Super Saver Shipping or not

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ZendService\Amazon\SimilarProduct

When searching for items, Amazon also returns a list of similar products that the searcher may find to their liking. Each of these is returned as a ZendService\Amazon\SimilarProduct object.

Each object contains the information to allow you to make sub-sequent requests to get the full information on the item.

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonSimilarProduct Properties
Name Type Description
ASIN string Products Amazon Unique ID (ASIN)
Title string Products Title

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ZendService\Amazon\Accessories

Accessories for the returned item are represented as ZendService\Amazon\Accessories objects

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonAccessories Properties
Name Type Description
ASIN string Products Amazon Unique ID (ASIN)
Title string Products Title

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ZendService\Amazon\CustomerReview

Each Customer Review is returned as a ZendService\Amazon\CustomerReview object.

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonCustomerReview Properties
Name Type Description
Rating string Item Rating
HelpfulVotes string Votes on how helpful the review is
CustomerId string Customer ID
TotalVotes string Total Votes
Date string Date of the Review
Summary string Review Summary
Content string Review Content

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ZendService\Amazon\EditorialReview

Each items Editorial Reviews are returned as a ZendService\Amazon\EditorialReview object

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonEditorialReview Properties
Name Type Description
Source string Source of the Editorial Review
Content string Review Content

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ZendService\Amazon\Listmania

Each results List Mania List items are returned as ZendService\Amazon\Listmania objects.

Properties

ZendServiceAmazonListmania Properties
Name Type Description
ListId string List ID
ListName string List Name

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