This client library helps you work with social network data from your web server. This document will help explain where you can obtain the files for the client library, and how to use them in your own projects.

• Obtaining the client library
• Obtaining the pre-packaged release
• Obtaining the most up-to-date version from SVN
• What to do with the files
• Copy the osapi directory into your project
• Setting include_path by editing php.ini
• Setting include_path dynamically inside of your code

Obtaining the client library

There are two options for obtaining the files for the client library.

Obtaining the pre-packaged release

Most developers will want to use the pre-packaged release, which is released according to the project roadmap and will be the most stable version of the library.

To download the library, go to the Downloads tab. The most recent release of the library will be listed, typically with a few different archive types (.zip, .tar.gz, .tar.bz). There is no difference between the different archive formats - please select one supported by your operating system.

After extracting the library from the archive, you will have a new opensocial-php-client directory. The library files themselves are in the opensocial-php-client/osapi directory.

Obtaining the most up-to-date version from SVN

The most up-to-date version of the code is available from this project's SVN repository. Obtaining the code this way is intended for developers looking for fixes or features that have not been released in the pre-packaged version, or for developers who want to contribute patches back to the project.

Obtain the code by using the following SVN checkout command (you will need an SVN client installed on your computer):

  svn checkout http://opensocial-php-client.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ opensocial-php-client

After checking out the code, you will have a new opensocial-php-client directory. The library files themselves are in the opensocial-php-client/src/osapi directory.

What to do with the files

After obtaining the library in either of the ways described above, you will have a directory named osapi somewhere on your filesystem, containing the library files. Specifically, you will need to include the file osapi/osapi.php inside of your scripts.

To be able to include osapi.php inside of your PHP scripts, you will need to tell PHP where it can find the client library. Listed below are some suggested ways of doing this.

Copy the osapi directory into your project

You can make a copy of the osapi directory for each PHP project you write. For example, if your project structure looks like this:

  myproject/
    |- myproject.php

Copy the osapi directory into the myproject directory. You can add the following code to myproject.php to include the client library:

  require_once "osapi/osapi.php";

Setting include_path by editing php.ini

If you don't want to make a copy of the library directory for each of your projects, you can edit the php.ini PHP configuration file on your server and tell PHP where to find the client library.

The line that configures include_path will contain some existing paths on your system:

  include_path=".:/usr/local/share/pear:/usr/local/PEAR"

Add a colon, followed by the path to your osapi directory:

  include_path=".:/usr/local/share/pear:/usr/local/PEAR:/path/to/osapi"

Once you restart your web server, you can include the library by using the following line in your PHP scripts:

  require_once "osapi.php";

Setting include_path dynamically inside of your code

If you are unable to edit your php.ini file, you can still adjust the value of include_path inside of your PHP scripts. Just include the following code:

  set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . '/path/to/osapi');
  require_once "osapi.php";