MailChimp API 3.0 Helper PHP Function

I've been doing a lot of work with the MailChimp API V. 3.0 over the past year while developing the Cultivate CRM WordPress Plugin and I created the following helper function that has made live a lot easier for me since I have to make probably a dozen calls to the API within this one plugin.

MailChimp API 3.0 Helper Function

<?php
function mailchimp_request($mcAPIkey,$url,$req_type,$json=''){
//send a HTTP POST, GET or PUT request with curl:
 $ch = curl_init($url);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, 'user:' . $mcAPIkey);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Content-Type: application/json']);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 100);
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, $req_type);//GET, PUT, POST
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
 if($req_type!="GET")curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $json);//not needed for GET requests
 $result = curl_exec($ch);
 $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
 curl_close($ch);
 // echo "http code: $httpCode<br />";

$body = json_decode($result);
 //echo "successfully got list for Cultivate CRM!<br />result:<hr />$result<hr />";
 $results['code'] = $httpCode ;
 $results['result'] = $result;
 // store the status message based on response code
 if ($httpCode == 200) {//if no error occurred:
 return $results;
 } else {//else an error occurred:
 return false;
 }//end else an error occurred
 }//end mailchimp_request PHP function by Ian L. of Jafty.com

Calling mailchimp_request Function

Here is how you use the above mailchimp_request PHP function:

<?php
//Construct the MailChimp API URL:
$mcAPIkey = 'YOUR-MC-API-KEY';
$mcListID = 'YOUR-MC-LIST-ID';
$email= 'MEMBER_EMAIL@EMAIL.COM';
$memberID = md5(strtolower($email));
$dataCenter = substr($mcAPIkey,strpos($mcAPIkey,'-')+1);
$url = 'https://' . $dataCenter . '.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/lists/' . $mcListID . '/merge-fields/';    
//get the response:
$response = mailchimp_request($mcAPIkey,$url,'GET');
$httpcode = $response['code'];
$result = $response['result'];
$decoded_result = json_decode($result);
echo "http code: $httpcode<br>";
echo "Response data from getting address field data from MC API:
";
$merged_field_obj = $decoded_result->merge_fields;//should be an array of merged fields
print_r($merged_field_obj);
?>