Step by Step Guide to Building a Zillow Leads API Integration in PHP

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to dive into the world of real estate tech? Today, we're going to walk through building a Zillow Leads API integration in PHP. This nifty tool will help you tap into Zillow's vast lead database, giving your real estate business a serious edge. Let's get cracking!

Prerequisites

Before we jump in, make sure you've got:

• A PHP environment up and running
• Zillow API credentials (if you don't have these yet, hop over to Zillow's developer portal)
• cURL installed (we'll be using this for our HTTP requests)

Got all that? Great! Let's move on.

Setting up the project

First things first, let's set up our project structure. Create a new directory for your project and navigate into it:

mkdir zillow-leads-integration
cd zillow-leads-integration

Now, let's create our main PHP file:

touch zillow_leads.php

Authentication

Alright, time to get our hands dirty with some code. Open up zillow_leads.php and let's start by setting up our authentication:

<?php

$apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE';
$apiSecret = 'YOUR_API_SECRET_HERE';

function getAuthHeader($apiKey, $apiSecret) {
    $timestamp = time();
    $signature = hash_hmac('sha256', $apiKey . $timestamp, $apiSecret);
    return base64_encode($apiKey . ':' . $timestamp . ':' . $signature);
}

Making API requests

Now that we've got authentication sorted, let's create a function to make API requests:

function makeApiRequest($endpoint, $method = 'GET', $data = null) {
    global $apiKey, $apiSecret;

    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.zillow.com/leads/v1/" . $endpoint);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
        'Authorization: Basic ' . getAuthHeader($apiKey, $apiSecret),
        'Content-Type: application/json'
    ]);

    if ($method === 'POST') {
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
    }

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

    return json_decode($response, true);
}

Parsing API responses

Our makeApiRequest function already decodes the JSON response, so we're good to go on that front. Let's add some error handling:

function handleApiResponse($response) {
    if (isset($response['error'])) {
        throw new Exception("API Error: " . $response['error']['message']);
    }
    return $response;
}

Implementing key Zillow Leads API features

Now, let's implement some key features. We'll start with retrieving lead information:

function getLeadInfo($leadId) {
    $response = makeApiRequest("lead/$leadId");
    return handleApiResponse($response);
}

// Usage
$leadInfo = getLeadInfo('12345');
print_r($leadInfo);

Next, let's add a function to update lead status:

function updateLeadStatus($leadId, $status) {
    $data = ['status' => $status];
    $response = makeApiRequest("lead/$leadId", 'POST', $data);
    return handleApiResponse($response);
}

// Usage
$updatedLead = updateLeadStatus('12345', 'contacted');
print_r($updatedLead);

Data storage and management

For this guide, we'll keep it simple and use a JSON file to store our leads. In a production environment, you'd want to use a proper database.

function saveLead($lead) {
    $leads = json_decode(file_get_contents('leads.json'), true) ?: [];
    $leads[$lead['id']] = $lead;
    file_put_contents('leads.json', json_encode($leads));
}

function getStoredLead($leadId) {
    $leads = json_decode(file_get_contents('leads.json'), true) ?: [];
    return $leads[$leadId] ?? null;
}

Testing and debugging

Here's a simple test script to make sure everything's working:

try {
    $leadId = '12345'; // Replace with a real lead ID
    $leadInfo = getLeadInfo($leadId);
    saveLead($leadInfo);
    
    $storedLead = getStoredLead($leadId);
    print_r($storedLead);

    $updatedLead = updateLeadStatus($leadId, 'contacted');
    saveLead($updatedLead);
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Best practices and optimization

Remember to respect Zillow's rate limits. You might want to implement a caching strategy to avoid unnecessary API calls. Here's a simple example:

function getCachedLeadInfo($leadId) {
    $storedLead = getStoredLead($leadId);
    if ($storedLead && time() - $storedLead['last_updated'] < 3600) {
        return $storedLead;
    }
    $leadInfo = getLeadInfo($leadId);
    $leadInfo['last_updated'] = time();
    saveLead($leadInfo);
    return $leadInfo;
}

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a basic Zillow Leads API integration in PHP. From here, you can expand on this foundation to create more complex features, implement a proper database, add error logging, and more.

Remember, the key to mastering API integrations is practice and patience. Don't be afraid to experiment and build upon this code. Happy coding, and may your leads be ever-flowing!