Abdullah Rubiyath :: Alif's Web

Brief Explanation of Methods:

The Class 'class.imdb.php' has 3 useful Methods (in addition other ones). They are:

Usage (Basic):

Using the class is very easy. Include the class file, initialize the class and then invoke get($url), where $url is the IMDB URL for movie.

include 'path/to/class/class.imdb.php';
$imdbObj   = new Imdb();

// movieInfo contains the details of Movies in associative array format
$movieInfo = $imdbObj->get('http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/');

Here's a vardump of movieInfo:

Array
(
    [title:] => The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    [image:] => http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE4MjA1NTAyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzM1NDQyMQ@@._V1._SX94_SY140_.jpg
    [url:] => http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/
    [Plot:] => The former Fellowship of the Ring prepare for the final battle for Middle Earth, while Frodo & Sam approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.|
    [Director:] => Peter Jackson
    [Release Date:] => 17 December 2003 (USA)
    [Runtime:] => 201 min  | 251 min (extended edition)
)

That's it, simple enough!. By Default, title, image, url, Plot, Director, Release Date and Runtime is returned. All Keys of the associative array as suffixed with ':' (colon), I leave it upto developers to either strip it out, or just display it.

Usage (Customization and Advanced Usage):

By default, the class fetches the title, image, url, Plot, Director, Release Date and Runtime which is fine for most everyday work, but a developer may want to access additional information like Awards, Aspect Ratio, Writers, etc for a movie from IMDB. This class allows developers to do that easily, just by calling the function get. Also, I have developed the class by using Method Chaining Technique (thanks to jQuery for teaching me that), so, you can chain Methods easily.

If you wish to grab the cast in the movie, then call the following method:

$imdbObj->showCast(true);

Below, I will be using this URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/

//..

Awards:
 

Won 11 Oscars.
 Another 106 wins
&
68 nominations
more


//..

$imdbObj   = new Imdb();
$imdbObj->add('Awards:','/div/text()');
$movieInfo = $imdbObj->get('http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/');

Infact, the class allows you to chain Methods, so, you could just do this:

$imdbObj   = new Imdb();
$movieInfo = $imdbObj->add('Awards:','/div/text()')->get('http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/');

Now, $movieInfo will also contain information on Awards. Here's a vardump of $movieInfo

Array
(
    [title:] => The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    [image:] => http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE4MjA1NTAyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzM1NDQyMQ@@._V1._SX94_SY140_.jpg
    [url:] => http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/
    [Plot:] => The former Fellowship of the Ring prepare for the final battle for Middle Earth, while Frodo & Sam approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.|
    [Director:] => Peter Jackson
    [Release Date:] => 17 December 2003 (USA)
    [Runtime:] => 201 min  | 251 min (extended edition)
    [Awards:] => Won 11 Oscars. 
Another 106 wins 
& 68 nominations
)

Simple? right. Now, lets say, you want to know both Awards and the Writers of that Movie, so, look at the source code on IMDB Page again on Writers area. Here's how it looks like:

Writers (WGA):

J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
Fran Walsh (screenplay) ...
more

So, call add Method again. add Method also accepts associative array on 1st parameter, so you don't have to chain/call add again and again multiple times with the imdbObj. For writers, on 1st parameter, you pass 'Writers (WGA):' (the raw text inside h5 without tags) and on 2nd param, you pass '/a', because all the writers name are inside 'a' (anchor) tags. Here's how to do it:

$imdbObj = new Imdb();
$movieInfo = $imdbObj->add( array('Awards:' => '/div/text()' , 
                            'Writers (WGA):' => '/div/a'))
                     ->get('http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/');

Thats about. Now, here's a vardump of $movieInfo

Array
(
    [title:] => The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    [image:] => http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE4MjA1NTAyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzM1NDQyMQ@@._V1._SX94_SY140_.jpg
    [url:] => http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/
    [Plot:] => The former Fellowship of the Ring prepare for the final battle for Middle Earth, while Frodo & Sam approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.|
    [Director:] => Peter Jackson
    [Release Date:] => 17 December 2003 (USA)
    [Runtime:] => 201 min  | 251 min (extended edition)
    [Awards:] => Won 11 Oscars.
 Another 106 wins
&
68 nominations
    [Writers (WGA):] => J.R.R. Tolkien,Fran Walsh,more
)

Almost, all the Information on IMDB movie page is stored in this format:

Name_of_Data:

_RAW_TEXT_
TEXT_1TEXT_2

CSV: By Default, all Values returned are in CSV Format, if you want to get value as list of array, for example for Writers, you way want to get the list of Writers as in Array instead of CSV. In that case do the following:

$imdbObj   = new Imdb();
$movieInfo = $imdbObj->useCSV(false)->get('http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/');

View Demo