Zillow API get address data using PHP

Question

So I must be missing something. I can retrieve the zpid and the zestimate no problem doing the following:

$zdata->response->zpid; //zpid
$zdata->response->zestimate->amount; //zestimate

But then when I try what appears to be the obvious equivalent to retrieve a part of the address:

$zdata->response->address->street;
$zdata->response->address->city;

None of it works! Why?? Clearly I must be missing something here. Below is my entire code

<?php
    $zillow_id = '1234';
    $search = $_POST['address'];
    $citystate = $_POST['csz'];
    $address = urlencode($search);
    $citystatezip = urlencode($citystate);

    $url = "http://www.zillow.com/webservice/GetSearchResults.htm?zws-id=".$zillow_id."&address=".$address."&citystatezip=".$citystatezip;
    $result = file_get_contents($url);
    $data = simplexml_load_string($result);

    $zpidNum = $data->response->results->result[0]->zpid;

    $zurl = "http://www.zillow.com/webservice/GetZestimate.htm?zws-id=".$zillow_id."&zpid=".$zpidNum;
    $zresult = file_get_contents($zurl);
    $zdata = simplexml_load_string($zresult);

    //echo $zdata->response->zestimate->amount;

    //$zestimate=$zdata->response->zestimate->amount;
    $zstreet=$zdata->response->address->street;
    echo $street;
?>

Looking at the XML output as seen on Zillow's own documentation, I am following the same pattern to try to get the street as to get the zestimate. I am not very familiar with working with XML so it is very possible I am missing something.

So I am getting an error in my console that shows the following:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token T

The 'T' seems to be the first letter of the street that is entered, as it changes accordingly. Perhaps this could shine some light on the issue?

I'll post my AJAX too but I don't know why there would be something wrong with it. As stated above, I am able to display the ZPID and Zestimate just fine, only the address isn't working.

AJAX/JS:

function validateAddress(){
    var address = document.getElementById('address').value;
    var csz = document.getElementById('city_state_zip').value;

    if (address == null || address == "" || csz == null || csz == "") {
        return false;
    }
    else{
        getZestimate(address,csz);
    }
}

function getZestimate(address,csz){
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

    var userdata = "address="+address+"&csz="+csz;

    xmlhttp.open("POST","../wp-content/themes/realhomes/submit_address.php",true);

    xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function(){
        if(xmlhttp.readyState == 4 && xmlhttp.status == 200){
            //retrieve = JSON.parse(xmlhttp.responseText);
              retrieve = xmlhttp.responseText;
            document.getElementById("zestimateArea").innerHTML = '<div id="zillowWrap"><a href="http://www.zillow.com"><img src="http://www.zillow.com/widgets/GetVersionedResource.htm?path=/static/logos/Zillowlogo_150x40.gif" width="150" height="40" alt="Zillow Real Estate Search" id="ZillowLogo" /></a><span id="zestimateTag">Zestimate&reg;</span></div><span id="zestimatePrice">'+retrieve+'</span><div id="zillowDisclaimer"><span>&copy; Zillow, Inc., 2006-2014. Use is subject to <a href="http://www.zillow.com/corp/Terms.htm">Terms of Use</a></span><span>What&rsquo;s a <a href="http://www.zillow.com/wikipages/What-is-a-Zestimate">Zestimate?</a>';
        }
        else{
            document.getElementById("zestimateArea").innerHTML = "Error!"
        }
    }

    xmlhttp.send(userdata);
    document.getElementById("zestimateArea").innerHTML = "Generating...";

    return false;
}

Answer 1

So when I went to post my AJAX as a last ditch effort for help I had seen I still had this line of code:

retrieve = JSON.parse(xmlhttp.responseText);

As Daedalus helpfully explained, this wasn't an issue when I was retrieving integers but posed a problem when I was retrieving text. I had originally put that line of code in when I was trying to retrieve both the Zestimate and the address together in an array encoded with JSON. When it was unsuccessful I took a step back to see if I could retrieve the address individually with no success. I never thought twice about that line of code since the AJAX still seemed to work fine.

Hence the perplexing outcome.

Changing that line back to:

retrieve = xmlhttp.responseText;

Allowed me to retrieve the address with success.

Don't you had simple mistakes that cause huge problems? Back to figuring out why the JSON encode and parsing wasn't working, but that's a question for a different post.