CarsXE Developer

PHP Quickstart Guide

Get started with CarsXE's PHP SDK to integrate comprehensive vehicle data into your PHP applications.

The CarsXE PHP SDK provides a simple and powerful way to integrate vehicle data into your PHP applications. This guide will help you get started quickly.

For more information, see the package on Packagist.

Installation

Install the CarsXE PHP package using Composer:

composer require carsxe/carsxe

Setup

First, require the autoloader and initialize the CarsXE client:

app.php

<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use CarsxeDeveloper\Carsxe\Carsxe;
// Initialize the client
$API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE';
$carsxe = new Carsxe($API_KEY);

Basic Usage

VIN Specifications

app.php

<?php
$vin = 'WBAFR7C57CC811956';
try {
    $vehicle = $carsxe->specs(['vin' => $vin]);
    echo $vehicle['input']['vin'];
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

International VIN Decoder

app.php

<?php
try {
    $intvin = $carsxe->intVinDecoder([
        'vin' => 'WF0MXXGBWM8R43240'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($intvin, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Market Value

app.php

<?php
try {
    $marketvalue = $carsxe->marketValue([
        'vin' => 'WBAFR7C57CC811956'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($marketvalue, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Vehicle History

app.php

<?php
try {
    $history = $carsxe->history([
        'vin' => 'WBAFR7C57CC811956'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($history, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

License Plate Decoder

app.php

<?php
try {
    $decoded_plate = $carsxe->plateDecoder([
        'plate' => '7XER187',
        'state' => 'CA',
        'country' => 'US'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($decoded_plate, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Vehicle Images

app.php

<?php
try {
    $images = $carsxe->images([
        'make' => 'BMW',
        'model' => 'X5',
        'year' => '2019'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($images, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Vehicle Recalls

app.php

<?php
try {
    $recalls = $carsxe->recalls([
        'vin' => '1C4JJXR64PW696340'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($recalls, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Plate Image Recognition

app.php

<?php
try {
    $plateimg = $carsxe->plateImageRecognition([
        'upload_url' => 'https://api.carsxe.com/img/apis/plate_recognition.JPG'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($plateimg, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

VIN OCR from Image

app.php

<?php
try {
    $vinocr = $carsxe->vinOcr([
        'upload_url' => 'https://api.carsxe.com/img/apis/plate_recognition.JPG'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($vinocr, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Year-Make-Model Search

app.php

<?php
try {
    $yymm = $carsxe->yearMakeModel([
        'year' => '2012',
        'make' => 'BMW',
        'model' => '5 Series'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($yymm, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

OBD Code Decoder

app.php

<?php
try {
    $obdcode = $carsxe->obdCodesDecoder([
        'code' => 'P0115'
    ]);
    echo json_encode($obdcode, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
} catch (Exception $error) {
    echo "Error: " . $error->getMessage();
}

Error Handling

The SDK provides comprehensive error handling:

error_handling.php

<?php
use CarsXE\Exceptions\CarsXEException;
use CarsXE\Exceptions\CarsXEApiException;
try {
    $result = $carsxe->specs([
        'vin' => 'INVALID_VIN'
    ]);
} catch (CarsXEApiException $e) {
    switch ($e->getStatusCode()) {
        case 400:
            echo "Invalid VIN format";
            break;
        case 401:
            echo "Invalid API key";
            break;
        case 429:
            echo "Rate limit exceeded";
            break;
        default:
            echo "API error: " . $e->getMessage();
    }
} catch (CarsXEException $e) {
    echo "Client error: " . $e->getMessage();
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Unexpected error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Environment Variables

Store your API key securely using environment variables:

.env

# .env file
CARSXE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

app.php

<?php
// Using vlucas/phpdotenv
$dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__);
$dotenv->load();
$carsxe = new CarsXE([
    'api_key' => $_ENV['CARSXE_API_KEY']
]);

Available Endpoints

MethodDescription
$carsxe->specs(['vin' => $vin])Decode VIN & get full vehicle specifications
$carsxe->intVinDecoder(['vin' => $vin])Decode VIN with worldwide support
$carsxe->plateDecoder(['plate' => $plate, 'state' => $state, 'country' => $country])Decode license plate info
$carsxe->marketValue(['vin' => $vin])Estimate vehicle market value based on VIN
$carsxe->history(['vin' => $vin])Retrieve vehicle history
$carsxe->images(['make' => $make, 'model' => $model, 'year' => $year])Fetch images by make, model, year, trim
$carsxe->recalls(['vin' => $vin])Get safety recall data for a VIN
$carsxe->plateImageRecognition(['upload_url' => $url])Read & decode plates from images
$carsxe->vinOcr(['upload_url' => $url])Extract VINs from images using OCR
$carsxe->yearMakeModel(['year' => $year, 'make' => $make, 'model' => $model])Query vehicle by year, make, model and trim
$carsxe->obdCodesDecoder(['code' => $code])Decode OBD error/diagnostic codes

Start building powerful automotive applications with CarsXE's PHP SDK!

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