What best practices should be followed when using PHP scripts to interact with surveillance station APIs for camera integration in home automation systems?

When using PHP scripts to interact with surveillance station APIs for camera integration in home automation systems, it is important to follow best practices to ensure security and efficiency. This includes using secure connections (HTTPS), implementing proper error handling, and sanitizing user input to prevent injection attacks.

<?php

// Set up cURL to make secure HTTPS requests
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://your_surveillance_station_api_endpoint');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); // Disable SSL verification for testing purposes

// Execute the API request
$response = curl_exec($ch);

// Check for errors and handle them appropriately
if($response === false){
    echo 'Error: ' . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    // Process the API response
    echo $response;
}

// Close cURL session
curl_close($ch);

?>