"Notice: Trying to get property of non-object..."

PHP
1

Hi,

I am trying to verify an address for Google Maps. I mean, if the address is a real address, the map will be displayed, else a default map will be displayed. I tried the following but I get a notice for non-real addresses.

$data = new SimpleXMLElement(file_get_contents('http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=xml&q='.$address));

if (is_object($data)) {
	// address is real. display map for address.
} else {
	// address is not real. display default map.
}

$data = new SimpleXMLElement(file_get_contents('http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=xml&q='.$address));

if ($data instanceof SimpleXMLElement) {
	// address is real. display map for address.
} else {
	// address is not real. display default map.
}

Thanks for any ideas.

2

The Google Maps sends back an XML file with the data on it so it should always be an object.
It also sends a Status code as one of the nodes, you can use this to check if the address exists or not.

$data = new SimpleXMLElement(file_get_contents('http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=xml&q='.$address)); 


//returns and object that contains a status code
if($data->Response->Status->code == 200) {
    echo 'Correct Address - Map needed';
} else
if($data->Response->Status->code == 602) {
    echo 'Incorrect address - do something else';
}

Try that.

3

Thank you very much, didn’t know about the status code. It worked.

4

No problem, the returned xml has many nodes that could be useful to you.
Here is the full node structure from a search for Glossop:



[COLOR=#000000][FONT=monospace]<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=monospace]<Response>
<name>glossop</name>
<Status>
<code>200</code>
<request>geocode</request>

</Status>


<Placemark id="p1">
<address>Glossop, Derbyshire, UK</address>
<AddressDetails xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:ciq:xsdschema:xAL:2.0" Accuracy="4">
<Country>
<CountryNameCode>GB</CountryNameCode>
<CountryName>UK</CountryName>
<AdministrativeArea>
<AdministrativeAreaName>Derbyshire</AdministrativeAreaName>
<Locality>
<LocalityName>Glossop</LocalityName>

</Locality>



</AdministrativeArea>



</Country>



</AddressDetails>


<ExtendedData>
<LatLonBox north="53.4575653" south="53.4280995" east="-1.9149820" west="-1.9952815"/>

</ExtendedData>


<Point>
<coordinates>-1.9489070,53.4433284,0</coordinates>

</Point>



</Placemark>



</Response>


[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=monospace]</kml>[/FONT][/COLOR]

It gets more interesting if there are more than 1 result returned so you will have to be specific about your address format!