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How to Build a WeChat QR Code Promotion System with PHP

M66 2025-06-24

How to Build a WeChat QR Code Promotion System with PHP

With the rise of mobile internet, WeChat official accounts have become a crucial marketing and communication channel for businesses and individuals. To effectively promote these accounts, QR codes are widely used to guide users to follow them. PHP, known for its flexibility and simplicity, is a great choice for developing such a QR code management feature.

This article walks you through the entire process of using PHP to create a QR code-based promotion system for a WeChat official account, from SDK integration to code implementation and display.

1. Prepare the Development Environment and WeChat Credentials

First, make sure you've registered and verified your WeChat Official Account, and obtained the required AppID and AppSecret. These credentials are necessary for accessing the WeChat API.

To streamline the development process, we recommend using a popular framework like EasyWeChat.

2. Install the EasyWeChat SDK

Add the following dependency to your composer.json file:


"require": {
    "overtrue/wechat": "~4.0"
}

Then run the following command to install the SDK:


composer install

3. Initialize the WeChat SDK Configuration

After installation, load the SDK and configure it as follows:


<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use EasyWeChat\Factory;

$config = [
    'app_id' => 'your-app-id',
    'secret' => 'your-app-secret',
    'token' => 'your-token',
    'response_type' => 'array',
];

$app = Factory::officialAccount($config);

Be sure to replace your-app-id and your-app-secret with your actual account credentials.

4. Generate Promotional QR Codes

EasyWeChat provides methods to generate both temporary and permanent QR codes:


// Temporary QR code (expires in seconds)
$result = $app->qrcode->temporary(1234, 3600);

// Permanent QR code
$result = $app->qrcode->forever(1234); // The parameter becomes the scene_id

// Get the QR code ticket
$ticket = $result['ticket'];

// Get the QR code image URL
$url = $app->qrcode->url($ticket);

The ticket allows you to retrieve the QR image, which can then be displayed or downloaded.

5. Save the QR Code Image Locally


// Save QR code image
file_put_contents('qrcode.jpg', file_get_contents($url));

This code downloads and saves the QR code image to your local project directory.

6. Display the QR Code in a Web Page

Use standard HTML to embed the saved image for users to scan:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>WeChat QR Code</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>WeChat QR Code</h1>
    <img src="qrcode.jpg" alt="WeChat QR Code">
</body>
</html>

This page displays the saved QR code image. Users can scan it to follow your official account.

Conclusion

With these steps, you can successfully build a QR code promotion management system for a WeChat official account using PHP. From integrating the SDK to generating and displaying QR codes, this guide provides a complete workflow.

This feature can enhance your promotional strategies and serve as a foundation for further marketing tools such as user tracking and referral campaigns. We recommend expanding on this by integrating user behavior analysis and analytics.