README

Laravel PHP Facade/Wrapper for the USA.gov, DigitalGov Search API. You will need to create an account with DigialGov to create an affiliate id and access token key: http://search.digitalgov.gov/

Installation

1. Add project to the require array in your composer.json file:

    "require": {
        "iblank/laravel-gov-search": "dev-master"
    }
   

2. Run composer update to pull down the latest version of the package.

3. Open app/config/app.php* and add the service provider to your providers array:

    'providers' => array(
        'iblank\GovSearch\GovSearchServiceProvider'
    )
   

* NOTE: if you are using environmental configurations, make sure to place the service provider in the app.php file respective to your environment.

Configuration

For Laravel 5

Run php artisan vendor:publish and set your API key and affiliate id in the file:

/app/config/govsearch.php

For Laravel 4

Run php artisan config:publish iblank/laravel-gov-search and set your API key and affiliate id in the file:

/app/config/packages/iblank/laravel-gov-search/config.php

Default Options

Optionally change the default values for search requests using the DEFAULTS array in the config file:

'DEFAULTS' => array(
    'highlight' => true,
    'limit' => 20, // 1 to 999
    'sort' => 'relevance' // or 'date'
)

Usage

/**
 * Returns PHP object of search results
 * @param $search (string) - what to search for
 * @param $options (array) - set an 'offset' index and/or override any of the defaults set in the config file
 * @return (object) - PHP object (details below)
 */
$apiResult = GovSearch::search($search, $options);

Sample Format of Returned Object:

{
    "total": 356,
    "next_offset": 20,
    "spelling_correction": null,
    "results": [
        {
            "title": "sample title",
            "url": "http://www.anyplace.com",
            "snippet": "sample snippet",
            "publication_date": "2014-11-24"
        }
    ]
}

Basic Search Pagination Example

// Set Defaults
$search = 'Medal of Honor';
$options = array(
    'offset' => 0,
    'limit' => 25
);

// Make initial call
$apiResult = GovSearch::search($search, $options);

// Set total results
$totalResults = $apiResult['total'];

// Set total pages
$totalPages = ceil($totalResults / $options['limit']);

// Using this example, with 77 total results, would give you 4 pages
// If you want to go to page 3 of 4...
$page = 3;
$options['offset'] = ($page - 1) * $options['limit'];
$apiResults = GovSearch::search($search, $options);

Credits

Built on code from Alaouy's Youtube Laravel Facade/Wrapper.