Setting up Twitter API, getting the last few Tweets

I am completely new to using Twitter in general and have never embedded "latest tweets" on any project. I am simply trying to embed the 3-4 newest tweets on the site footer with no additional features of functionality. I have been researching how to do this for quite some time now and having some trouble.

I added the following code snippet to the project, which works quite well, however, I am not sure how to update the snippet so it uses my Twitter account instead of the one it is set up with.

    <div id="twitter_update_list">
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=stackoverflow&include_rts=true&count=4&callback=twitterCallback2">
    </script>

In addition, I keep reading that the most commonly used Twitter API will stop working soon because Twitter wants people to use their own, as opposed to third party.

I am not sure how to proceed from here. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions in this regard. To recap, all I am trying to do is grab the 3-4 latest tweets from my account.

many thanks in advance!

Solution 1:

So you REALLY don't want to do this client-side anymore. (Just went through numerous docs, and devs suggest to do all oAuth server-side)

What you need to do:

First: sign up on https://dev.twitter.com, and make a new application.

Second: NOTE: Your Consumer Key / Secret along with Access Token / Secret

Third: Download Twitter OAuth Library (In this case I used the PHP Library https://github.com/abraham/twitteroauth , additional libraries located here: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/twitter-libraries)

Fourth: (If using PHP) Make sure cURL is enabled if your running on a LAMP here's the command you need:

sudo apt-get install php5-curl

Fifth: Make a new PHP file and insert the following: Thanks to Tom Elliot http://www.webdevdoor.com/php/authenticating-twitter-feed-timeline-oauth/

<?php
session_start();
require_once("twitteroauth/twitteroauth/twitteroauth.php"); //Path to twitteroauth library you downloaded in step 3

$twitteruser = "twitterusername"; //user name you want to reference
$notweets = 30; //how many tweets you want to retrieve
$consumerkey = "12345"; //Noted keys from step 2
$consumersecret = "123456789"; //Noted keys from step 2
$accesstoken = "123456789"; //Noted keys from step 2
$accesstokensecret = "12345"; //Noted keys from step 2

function getConnectionWithAccessToken($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret) {
  $connection = new TwitterOAuth($cons_key, $cons_secret, $oauth_token, $oauth_token_secret);
  return $connection;
}

$connection = getConnectionWithAccessToken($consumerkey, $consumersecret, $accesstoken, $accesstokensecret);

$tweets = $connection->get("https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=".$twitteruser."&count=".$notweets);

echo json_encode($tweets);
echo $tweets; //testing remove for production   
?>

And boom, you're done. I know this isn't a pure js solution but again reading through the new Twitter API 1.1 docs they REALLY don't want you to do this client-side. Hope this helps!

Solution 2:

How to get last few tweets of user with core PHP functionality only (no CURL or Twitter oAuth library needed):

1. Register your app/webpage https://apps.twitter.com (You may need to verify your personal account mobile number too)

2. Note Consumer Key and Consumer Secret

3. PHP Code:

   // auth parameters
   $api_key = urlencode('REPLACEWITHAPPAPIKEY'); // Consumer Key (API Key)
   $api_secret = urlencode('REPLACEWITHAPPAPISECRET'); // Consumer Secret (API Secret)
   $auth_url = 'https://api.twitter.com/oauth2/token'; 
   
   // what we want?
   $data_username = 'Independent'; // username
   $data_count = 10; // number of tweets
   $data_url = 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json?tweet_mode=extended';
   
   // get api access token
   $api_credentials = base64_encode($api_key.':'.$api_secret);
   
   $auth_headers = 'Authorization: Basic '.$api_credentials."\r\n".
                   'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8'."\r\n";
   
   $auth_context = stream_context_create(
       array(
           'http' => array(
               'header' => $auth_headers,
               'method' => 'POST',
               'content'=> http_build_query(array('grant_type' => 'client_credentials', )),
           )
       )
   );
   
   $auth_response = json_decode(file_get_contents($auth_url, 0, $auth_context), true);
   $auth_token = $auth_response['access_token'];
   
   // get tweets
   $data_context = stream_context_create( array( 'http' => array( 'header' => 'Authorization: Bearer '.$auth_token."\r\n", ) ) );
   
   $data = json_decode(file_get_contents($data_url.'&count='.$data_count.'&screen_name='.urlencode($data_username), 0, $data_context), true);
   
   // result - do what you want
   print('<pre>');
   print_r($data);
   

Tested with XAMPP for Windows and Centos6 default installation (PHP 5.3)

Most probable problem with this might be that openssl is not enabled in php.ini

To fix check if extension=php_openssl.dll or extension=php_openssl.so line is present and uncommented in php.ini