How to Generate QR Codes for WeChat Official Account Using PHP

How to Generate QR Codes for WeChat Official Account Using PHP

With the rapid rise of social media, WeChat Official Accounts have become essential tools for businesses to interact with their users. QR codes, which are convenient and quick, are widely used to allow users to easily follow official accounts. This article explains how to use PHP to develop the QR code generation feature for a WeChat Official Account and provides code examples for the process.

Obtain the QR Code Generation URL

Before we begin developing the QR code generation functionality, the first step is to obtain the URL for generating the QR code. This can be done through the API provided by the WeChat Official Account platform. Below is an example of how to obtain the QR code generation URL:

<?php
$appid = "your_app_id";  // Official Account AppID
$secret = "your_app_secret";  // Official Account AppSecret
$access_token_url = "https://api.weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/token?grant_type=client_credential&appid=$appid&secret=$secret";
$response = file_get_contents($access_token_url);
$result = json_decode($response, true);
$access_token = $result['access_token'];
$qrcode_url = "https://api.weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/qrcode/create?access_token=$access_token";
?>

In the code above, $appid and $secret represent the Official Account's AppID and AppSecret. By calling the WeChat API at https://api.weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/token, we can obtain the access_token, which is then used to generate the QR code URL through the https://api.weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/qrcode/create interface.

Generate the QR Code and Save the Image

Once we have the QR code generation URL, we can use PHP's imagecreatefromstring and imagepng functions to generate the QR code and save it as an image file. Below is an example of how to generate the QR code and save it:

<?php
$qrcode_data = array(
    'expire_seconds' => 604800,  // QR code expiration time, in seconds
    'action_name' => 'QR_SCENE',
    'action_info' => array(
        'scene' => array(
            'scene_id' => 1234  // QR code parameter
        )
    )
);
$qrcode_json = json_encode($qrcode_data);
$options = array(
    'http' => array(
        'method' => 'POST',
        'header' => 'Content-Type: application/json',
        'content' => $qrcode_json
    )
);
$context = stream_context_create($options);
$qrcode_response = file_get_contents($qrcode_url, false, $context);
$qrcode_result = json_decode($qrcode_response, true);
$qrcode_ticket = $qrcode_result['ticket'];
$qrcode_url = "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/cgi-bin/showqrcode?ticket=" . urlencode($qrcode_ticket);
$qrcode_image = imagecreatefromstring(file_get_contents($qrcode_url));
imagepng($qrcode_image, 'qrcode.png');  // Save the QR code as qrcode.png
?>

In this code, we first use json_encode to convert the QR code data to a JSON format. Then, we create an HTTP request context using stream_context_create. By calling file_get_contents, we send the request and get a response containing the URL of the QR code image. Finally, we use imagecreatefromstring and imagepng to generate and save the QR code image as a local file.

Summary

With the code examples provided in this article, you can easily generate QR codes for your WeChat Official Account using PHP. All you need to do is call the appropriate APIs and use basic image processing functions to generate and save the QR code. You can also modify the QR code parameters and save paths as needed to further improve the user experience. We hope this article has been helpful to you!