How to create and use a Tessitura client object in PHP

Interacting with the Tessitura web API using PHP can be a daunting task. Maybe this post can help if you're getting started with a PHP site.

Here is a simple PHP function that instantiates a SOAP client to interact with the Tessitura web API.

function getTessituraClient()
{
    try
    {
        // TESSITURA_WSDL_LOCATION is a constant may be
        // useful to define in an external settings file.
        $tessClient = new SoapClient(TESSITURA_WSDL_LOCATION);
    }
    catch (Exception $exception)
    {
        // Insert code here to handle when Tessitura API can't be found.
    }
    return $tessClient;
}

And here is an example of its use in retrieving a constituent's personal information:

$tessClient = getTessituraClient();

try
{
    // This assumes $tessSessionKey has been previously defined.
    $results = $tessClient->GetAccountInfo(array('sSessionKey'=>$tessSessionKey]));
}
catch (SoapFault $exception)
{
    // Insert code here to handle the potential failure of the GetAccountInfo() call.
}

$results = new SimpleXMLElement($results->GetAccountInfoResult->any);

// Storing some results in variables.
$namePrefix1 = (string) $results->GetAccountInfoResults->AccountInformation->prefix;
$firstName1  = (string) $results->GetAccountInfoResults->AccountInformation->fname;
$middleName1 = (string) $results->GetAccountInfoResults->AccountInformation->mname;
$lastName1   = (string) $results->GetAccountInfoResults->AccountInformation->lname;

// ... and so on

I hope this is helpful to someone!

Bryan