Create Tiny URLs with TinyURL, MooTools, and PHP

Since we've already figured out how to create TinyURL URLs remotely using PHP, we may as well create a small AJAX-enabled tiny URL creator. Using MooTools to do so is almost too easy.

The XHTML (Form)

<p><strong>URL:</strong> <input type="text" id="url" size="40" /> <input type="button" id="geturl" value="Get URL" /></p>
<p id="newurl"></p>

We need an input box where the user will enter their a URL, a button to trigger the process, and a placeholder to put the new, tiny URL.

The PHP

if(isset($_GET['url'])) 
{
	die(get_tiny_url(urldecode($_GET['url'])));
}

//gets the data from a URL  
function get_tiny_url($url)  
{  
	$ch = curl_init();  
	$timeout = 5;  
	curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,'http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url='.$url);  
	curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);  
	curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,$timeout);  
	$data = curl_exec($ch);  
	curl_close($ch);  
	return $data;  
}

This PHP snippet grabs and returns the tiny URL from TinyURL.

The MooTools JavaScript

window.addEvent('domready',function() {
	var TinyURL = new Class({
		//implements
		Implements: [Options],
		//options
		options: {
			checkURL: ''
		},
		//initialization
		initialize: function(options) {
			//set options
			this.setOptions(options);
		},
		//a method that does whatever you want
		createURL: function(url,complete) {
			var req = new Request({
				url: this.options.checkURL + '?url=' + url,
				method: 'get',
				async: false,
				onComplete: function(response) { complete(response); }
			}).send();
		}
	});
	
	
	// usage //
	var new_tiny_url = new TinyURL({
		checkURL: 'grab-tiny-url.php'
	});
	
	$('geturl').addEvent('click',function() {
		if($('url').value) {
			var newu = new_tiny_url.createURL($('url').value,function(resp) {
				$('newurl').set('html','The TinyURL is ' + resp + '.  Go ahead, try it!').setStyle('color','green');
			});
		}
	});
});

Just a tiny MooTools class and basic usage. The only parameter, "checkURL," is the URL to the PHP snippet above -- NOT the long URL we want to shrink. The real action happens when the createURL() method is invoked. You pass the method a URL to shorten and an "onComplete" function that takes action when the URL has been received.

TinyURL is a great service!