Java/Get Remote Page/Display as wml to PHP

[ZackBCFC]

Hi,

My mate has made something using Java that means that it can go to a website, read through the page until a certain point and from that point get the link. The contents of that link (again from a certain point) are output as WML files. All this requires Java on the server which I don't have and can't get setup with my hosting.

Is it possible to do a similar thing with php? Here is the script with some URLs removed.


//=============================================================================
// Project: New
//=============================================================================
// $Id: Zack.java 2089 2006-10-06 13:05:25Z apf $
//=============================================================================

package package;

/**
* Class for fetching updates.
*
*/
public class Zack
{

private static final String ZACK_FILE_NAME = "zack.wml";
private static final String ZACK_URL = "http://the main page.com/?account=x";
private static final String AMP = "&";
private static final String MATCHES_TABLE_START = "<p class=\"text\">The following matches have been started</p>";
private static final String TABLE_END = "</table>";
private static final String LINK_START = "<a href";
private static final String TAG_END = ">";
private static final String MATCH_START = "match=";
private static final String MATCH_END = "\"";
private static final String MATCH_URL = ZACK_URL + AMP + MATCH_START;
private static final String H1_START = "<h1>";
private static final String H1_END = "</h1>";
private static final String LINEUP_TABLE_START = ">Football</th></tr>";
private static final String UPDATES_TABLE_START = ">Updates</td></tr>";
private static final String ROW_END = "</tr>";
private static final String ROW_START = "<tr>";
private static final String TD_START = "<td";
private static final String TD_END = "</td>";
private static final String HEADER_START = "<th";
private static final String HEADER_END = "</th>";

private final Reader reader;
private Reader matchReader = null;

private String currentMatch = "";

private String firstH1 = "";
private String updates = "";
private String lineup = "";
private String subs = "";


/**
* Constructor for the Zack class.
*/
public Zack ()
{
reader = new Reader( ZACK_URL );
}


/**
* Write out Zack WML file.
*/
private void writeFile ()
{
final Writer file = new Writer( ZACK_FILE_NAME );
file.writeOneLine( firstH1 );
file.writeOneLine( "Updates" );
file.writeLines( updates );
if (lineup.length() > 0)
{
file.writeOneLine( "Line Up" );
file.writeLines( lineup );
if (subs.length() > 0)
{
file.writeOneLine( "Substitutes" );
file.writeLines( subs );
}
}
file.closeFile();
}


/**
* Refresh Zack's updates.
*/
public void fetch ()
{
reader.fetch();
final String page = reader.getString();
final String table = Reader.extract( page, MATCHES_TABLE_START, TABLE_END );
final String firstLink = Reader.extract( table, LINK_START, TAG_END );
final String match = Reader.extract( firstLink, MATCH_START, MATCH_END );
if (!currentMatch.equalsIgnoreCase( match ))
{
currentMatch = match;
matchReader = new Reader( MATCH_URL + currentMatch );
}
if (matchReader == null)
{
return;
}
matchReader.fetch();
final String matchPage = matchReader.getString();
firstH1 = Reader.extract( matchPage, H1_START, H1_END );
final String updateTable = Reader.extract( matchPage, UPDATES_TABLE_START, TABLE_END );
String remaining = updateTable;
updates = "";
while (remaining.length() > 0)
{
final String row = Reader.extract( remaining, ROW_START, ROW_END );
if (row.length() > 0)
{
final String firstTD = Reader.extract( row, TD_START, TD_END );
final String firstTDtext = Reader.extract( firstTD + TD_END, TAG_END, TD_END );
final String firstTDremain = Reader.remove( row, TD_END );
final String secondTD = Reader.extract( firstTDremain, TD_START, TD_END );
final String secondTDtext = Reader.extract( secondTD + TD_END, TAG_END, TD_END );
updates = updates + Writer.makePara( secondTDtext + " (" + firstTDtext + ")" );
remaining = Reader.remove( remaining, ROW_START + row + ROW_END );
}
else
{
remaining = "";
}
}
final String lineupTable = Reader.extract( matchPage, LINEUP_TABLE_START, TABLE_END );
remaining = lineupTable;
boolean sub = false;
lineup = "";
subs = "";
while (remaining.length() > 0)
{
final String row = Reader.extract( remaining, ROW_START, ROW_END );
if (row.length() > 0)
{
final String firstTD = Reader.extract( row, TD_START, TD_END );
final String firstTDtext = Reader.extract( firstTD + TD_END, TAG_END, TD_END );
final String firstTDremain = Reader.remove( row, TD_END );
final String secondTD = Reader.extract( firstTDremain, TD_START, TD_END );
final String secondTDtext = Reader.extract( secondTD + TD_END, TAG_END, TD_END );
final String header = Reader.extract( row, HEADER_START, HEADER_END );
if (secondTDtext.length() > 0)
{
if (sub)
{
subs = subs + Writer.makePara( firstTDtext + " " + secondTDtext );
}
else
{
lineup = lineup + Writer.makePara( firstTDtext + " " + secondTDtext );
}
}
else if (header.length() > 0)
{
final String substring = Reader.remove( header, TAG_END );
if (substring.equalsIgnoreCase( "Substitutes" ))
{
sub = true;
}
}
remaining = Reader.remove( remaining, ROW_START + row + ROW_END );
}
else
{
remaining = "";
}
}
writeFile();
}
}


I am not too sure how this is all done because I am new to Java and am still learning, but I was hopeing maybe someone else would understand what is happening by me posting that code, and then advice me if there was anyway that this could be done using just a PHP script?

Thanks for your time
Zack

[ess]

Hello Zack

Yes, it is possible to do that in PHP and there are many ways to do this. For example, you can use a simple fopen function where you would open a file from a remote location, read the contents of the file and then parse it accordingly.

However, in my opinion...you are better off using PHP CURL. You can find out more about CURL from the following url http://www.php.net/curl

If you want code samples and more help, please post in PHP forum.