Easiest way to fetch recent tweets using PHP and Twitter API 1.1

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1

Hey everyone! I’m trying to retrieve recent tweets from a Twitter user’s timeline using the Twitter API 1.1, but I’m running into issues. My old code, which worked with API 1.0, no longer functions since the update was made.

I’ve attempted a simple approach:

$api_url = 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json';
$access_token = 'your_access_token_here';

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Authorization: Bearer ' . $access_token));

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$tweets = json_decode($response, true);

if ($tweets) {
    foreach ($tweets as $tweet) {
        echo $tweet['text'] . "\n";
    }
}

Despite following this minimal setup, I keep encountering authentication errors. I’ve explored several Twitter API libraries, but they add unnecessary complexity. Could someone suggest a simpler PHP example that accurately retrieves recent user statuses? Thanks!

2

I’ve been down this road before, and I feel your frustration. The Twitter API 1.1 can be a real pain to work with directly. Have you considered using a wrapper like Codebird? It’s lightweight and handles all the OAuth shenanigans for you.

Here’s a quick snippet I’ve used in the past:

require_once('codebird.php');
\Codebird\Codebird::setConsumerKey('your_key', 'your_secret');
$cb = \Codebird\Codebird::getInstance();
$cb->setToken('access_token', 'access_token_secret');

$params = ['screen_name' => 'twitter_username', 'count' => 5];
$tweets = $cb->statuses_userTimeline($params);

foreach ($tweets as $tweet) {
    echo $tweet->text . "\n";
}

This approach has worked wonders for me, keeping things simple without sacrificing functionality. Just remember to replace the placeholder keys and tokens with your actual credentials from the Twitter Developer portal. Hope this helps!

3

I’ve encountered this issue before. The Twitter API 1.1 requires OAuth authentication, which is more secure but also more complex. Instead of using cURL directly, I’d recommend utilizing a library like abraham/twitteroauth. It handles the OAuth process and simplifies API interactions.

Here’s a basic example using twitteroauth:

require_once('vendor/autoload.php');
use Abraham\TwitterOAuth\TwitterOAuth;

$connection = new TwitterOAuth(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET);
$tweets = $connection->get('statuses/user_timeline', ['count' => 10, 'exclude_replies' => true]);

foreach ($tweets as $tweet) {
    echo $tweet->text . "\n";
}

This approach is more reliable and handles authentication seamlessly. Remember to obtain the necessary keys and tokens from the Twitter Developer portal.

4

hey there! i’ve had similar issues. have u tried using oauth instead of just the bearer token? it’s a bit more complex but works better. also, check that ur access token is valid. maybe try twitteroauth library, it simplifies matters. good luck!