IF condition based on wp_remote_get output

Question

I'm working on a plugin for displaying content based on the Letter Show in API. Where I want to display the content based on A or B returned by the API.

I have created an API here: https://randletter2020.herokuapp.com

The API only displays A or B at a time.

This is the plugin code I have created. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. "A Wins" is not displaying in [letter] I don't know if the API is pinging or not.

I have a bit of coding knowledge. Not an expert. Help me please to fix the issue in my code. Thanks in advance.

<?php
/**
* Plugin Name: Based on Random Letter
* Plugin URI: https://randletter2020.herokuapp.com
* Description: Desc.
* Version: 1.0
* Author: Ava
* Author URI: https://randletter2020.herokuapp.com
**/
ob_start();
function initapi(){
$api_url = "https://randletter2020.herokuapp.com";
$wp_response = wp_remote_get($api_url);
if($wp_response){
$contents = wp_remote_retrieve_body($wp_response);
}

if ($contents) {
$json = json_decode($contents, 1);
if ($json == "a") {

function set_letter(){
  $letter = "A Wins";
  return $letter;
}
add_shortcode('letter', 'set_letter');
}
else {   
        return false;
        //Do nothing
   }
 }
}
add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'initapi' ); 

Answer 1

Following would be the revised example code which you may want to try.

function display_api_response() {
    $api_url = "https://randletter2020.herokuapp.com";
$response = wp_remote_get($api_url);
   if ( 200 === wp_remote_retrieve_response_code($response) ) {
        $body = wp_remote_retrieve_body($response);

        if ( 'a' === $body ) {
          echo 'A wins';
        }else {
          // Do something else.
        }
   }
}
add_action( 'init', 'display_api_response' );

Here, you may want to replace init action with something else suitable to your requirements.

Please refer wp hooks for appropriate actions: https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Action_Reference