php - Get XML Attribute with SimpleXML

Question

I'm trying to get the $xml->entry->yt:statistics->attributes()->viewCount attribute, and I've tried some stuff with SimpleXML, and I can't really get it working!

Attempt #1

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?author=Google");
echo $xml->entry[0]->yt:statistics['viewCount'];
?>

Attempt #2

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?author=Google");
echo $xml->entry[0]->yt:statistics->attributes()->viewCount;
?>

Both of which return blank, though SimpleXML is working, I tried to get the feed's title, which worked!

Any ideas?

I've looked at loads of other examples on SO and other sites, but somehow this isn't working? does PHP recognize the ':' to be a cut-off, or am I just doing something stupid?

Thank you, any responses greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

If you just want to get the viewcount of a youtube video then you have to specify the video ID. The youtube ID is found in each video url. For example "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccI-MugndOU" so the id is ccI-MugndOU. In order to get the viewcount then try the code below

$sample_video_ID = "ccI-MugndOU";
$JSON = file_get_contents("http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?q={$sample_video_ID}&alt=json");
$JSON_Data = json_decode($JSON);
$views = $JSON_Data->{'feed'}->{'entry'}[0]->{'yt$statistics'}->{'viewCount'};
    echo $views;