Update 6-30-2010:

I recently updated the class to enable caching the xml response from the Petfinder server. This should provide a nice little speed boost even though it was already pretty fast . Caching is enabled by default, and caches expires in 3 minutes. The folder “cache_files” in zip folder must have write permissions. As shown in the instructions, you can change the paths of cache files.

This class will parse the returned xml as a data array. This libary requires just 4 easy steps to get data:

1. Add api-password to class
2. Add api-key to class
3. Pass configuration values as an array
4. Call the method in the class

Here is an example of how to use the php class

include_once('class.petfinder.php'); //include class
$pet = new Petfinder(); //create Petfinder object
$pet->setKey('12345'); //your api-key
$pet->setPass('abcdef'); //your api-secret
$pet->set(array('cache_expire' => 360)); //(optional) Time in secs to expire  default shown
$pet->set(array('cache_path' => 'full_path_to_cache_folder')) //(optional) Set cache path 
$pet->set(array('cache_enable' => FALSE)); //(optional) Disable cache feature 
 
$config = array('location '=> '44805', 'animal' => 'dog'); //associative array of values to pass to class. array keys must match arguments from API
$pet->initialize($config) //pass values to the class
$data = $pet->petFind(); //call API method which are accessed by camel casing them (pet.find=petFind)

The xml data is returned as an associative array. The array has been mapped to the xml layout returned by PetFinder. Echo out the variable and you will see the returned status code, the array of returned values, and the xml response data from PetFinder.

Demo Output

Download Class File
Download Demo + Class File

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Here’s how you will use this library in Codeigniter. First, extract the zip file and place the contents into your /application/libraries folder within your codeigniter folder structure.

Example code:

$this->load->library('geshi'); //load geshi class
 
$config['set_language'] = 'php'; //REQUIRED set language to parse
$config['set_source'] = 'foreach($test as $item){ echo "hello";}'; //REQUIRED set source code to parse
$this->geshi->initialize($config);
 
echo $this->geshi->output(); //output from geshi alias of parse_code

You can pass any geshi method or variable in the config array. Just name the key the same as the method or variable you are setting, and the value to what you would like to pass.

Zen-Cart

One of the features I enjoyed using with osCommerce, was a plugin for creating a related products box below a displayed. The plugin was easily implemented, and used an extra field add to the database. That was a great asset, that I felt missed using. Zen-cart offers something very similar in its port of XSell (Cross Sell). This feature would work fine if you are adding a few products at time, and do not have many related products. However, in my case, I have about 4,000 items in my catalog. The products are mostly lighting fixtures, which for must companies have coordinating fixtures for each room. This would be a bit cumbersome to create all of the related items. This is why I decided to write a quick plugin to get this simple functionality back.The code works by simply selecting products that have the same products_family value from the products table. You will first need to add this field to your database.

The default products table is “zen_products”, and in your favorite MySQL editor add:

ALTER TABLE zen_products ADD COLUMN products_family VARCHAR(50);

Next, you will need to add values to your new field family_products. The easiest to do this is to use custom fields in Easy Populate. I added the code to Easy Poplulate for zen-cart to be able to add your own custom fields to the import/export file.

Now that you’ve got the fields added to the database, it’s time to upload some files. Download Zencart Related Plugins. Read the included readme file, and upload to your zen cart folder.

Open the file /includes/templates/CUSTOM/templates/tpl_product_info_display.php and find the block around line 463:

<!--bof also purchased products module -->
	<?php require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_modules_also_purchased_products.php', DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'templates'). '/' . 'tpl_modules_also_purchased_products.php');?>
<!--eof also purchased products module -->

Above that copy this into your file:

<!--bof also related products module-->
	<?php require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_modules_related_products.php', DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'templates'). '/' . 'tpl_modules_related_products.php');?>
<!--eof also related products module-->

You should now see products being displayed under the products description. You will want to add some CSS styles to the box to your liking. Default styles should be:

#relatedProducts	{text-align: center;}
.centerBoxContentsRelatedProduct	{float: left; margin: 1em 0;}