asked on

Getting Values From CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS

I am trying to figure out how to grab the POST data, from a PHP page that was invoked with a CURL method, having an array passed via the CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS.

Since you don't provide a name for the POST field, how do you go about getting and parsing the value on the receiving PHP side?

Here's an example:

CallingPage.php

<?
$json_url = 'http://someURL/ReceivingPage.php';
$json_string = '{
"Key1":"Value1",
"Key2":"Value2",
"Key3":"Value3"
}';

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-type: application/json'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $json_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $json_string);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
?>

ReceivingPage.php

<?
// This is the receiving page...
// How do I get the array that was POSTed from the calling page?
// there is no $_POST["name???"] to grab???
?>

Dave Baldwin

I'm pretty sure you have to give it a name and urlencode the data part. You also need to set...

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);

for it to POST.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.curl-setopt.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php

ToddBPeterson

ASKER

Thanks Dave!

How would you give the post parameter a name, in that usage context?

From the PHP Manual:
This parameter can either be passed as a urlencoded string like 'para1=val1&para2=val2&...' or as an array with the field name as key and field data as value. If value is an array, the Content-Type header will be set to multipart/form-data.

I tried something like:

$json_string = 'my_parm={
          "Key1":"Value1",
          "Key2":"Value2",
          "Key3":"Value3"
}';

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Then tried, unsuccessfully to get:

$_POST["my_parm"]

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I also set the option you recommended:

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);

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I appreciate your thoughts/input.

Best Regards,
Todd

Ray Paseur

Please see http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_toddbpeterson.php

As a practical matter, you may need stripslashes() if your receiving script is running on a server that has magic quotes enabled. Here is why you do not want magic quotes enabled.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Web_Development/Web_Languages-Standards/PHP/A_6630-Magic-Quotes-a-bad-idea-from-day-one.html

Unfortunately my server has magic quotes, so that is why you will see the backslashes in the output. I think if you strip them you will find a workable JSON string.

<?php // RAY_temp_toddbpeterson.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', TRUE);


// DEMONSTRATE HOW TO USE CURL POST TO START AN ASYNCHRONOUS PROCESS
// http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web_Development/Web_Languages-Standards/PHP/Q_28084355.html

// TEST DATA FROM THE POST AT EE
$json_string = '{
          "Key1":"Value1",
          "Key2":"Value2",
          "Key3":"Value3"
     }';



function curl_post($url, $post_array=array(), $timeout=2, $error_report=FALSE)
{
    // PREPARE THE POST STRING
    $post_string = NULL;
    foreach ($post_array as $key => $val)
    {
        $post_string .= $key . '=' . urlencode($val) . '&';
    }
    $post_string = rtrim($post_string, '&');

    // PREPARE THE CURL CALL
    $curl = curl_init();
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_URL,            $url         );
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_HEADER,         FALSE        );
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_POST,           TRUE         );
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,     $post_string );
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT,        $timeout     );
    curl_setopt( $curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE         );

    // EXECUTE THE CURL CALL
    $htm = curl_exec($curl);
    $err = curl_errno($curl);
    $inf = curl_getinfo($curl);

    // ON FAILURE
    if (!$htm)
    {
        // PROCESS ERRORS HERE
        if ($error_report)
        {
            echo "CURL FAIL: $url TIMEOUT=$timeout, CURL_ERRNO=$err";
            echo "<pre>\n";
            var_dump($inf);
            echo "</pre>\n";
        }
        curl_close($curl);
        return FALSE;
    }

    // ON SUCCESS
    curl_close($curl);
    return $htm;
}


// USAGE EXAMPLE CREATES ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY OF KEY=>VALUE PAIRS
$args["my_stuff"]  = $json_string;

// ACTIVATE THIS TO SEE THE ARRAY OF ARGS
// var_dump($args);

// SET THE URL (THIS SCRIPT JUST SENDS BACK WHAT IT GOT)
$url = "http://LAPRBass.com/RAY_bounce_post.php";

// CALL CURL TO POST THE DATA
$htm = curl_post($url, $args, 3, TRUE);

// SHOW WHAT CAME BACK, IF ANYTHING
if ($htm)
{
    echo "<pre>";
    echo htmlentities($htm);
}
else
{
    echo "NO RESPONSE YET FROM $url -- MAYBE BECAUSE IT IS RUNNING ASYNCHRONOUSLY";
}

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HTH, ~Ray

ToddBPeterson

ASKER

Hey... Thanks Ray!

I think I'm close... just missing something simple...

What does the code for your http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_toddbpeterson.php page look like?

I have used your example to build the post array string, I'm just not sure how to extract it on the receiving side.

In this example, I own the client and the Rest server, and am trying to extract the posted JSON from the client, in my Rest server. Here is a summary of my client code (copied/pasted/simplified the source, so there may be some syntax errors, but you'll get the point:

<?

	function curlInvoke($url, $parms) {
		$ch = curl_init();  

		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-type: application/json'));
		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $parms);

		// Getting results 
		$response = curl_exec($ch); // Getting jSON result string 
		if($response === false) 
			return 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);
		
		$obj = json_decode($response);

		return $obj;
	}


	$json_url = 'http://myURL/RestPage.php';   
	$json_string = '{
		"Account_id":1234,
		"Account_Name":"Sample Account",
		"AccountGuid":"987654321",
		"ConfigData":"Key:Value",
		"CSV_Data":"FirstName,LastName,Title Ross,Little,SallysList Gordon,Rivera, Krisin,Meemken,SallysList Charlie,Pettygrove,SallysList Rosemary,Bundscho, fn,ln,",
		"Identifier":0001,
		"Schedule_ID":"ScheduleID01",
		"SettingsData":"Key:Value",
		"State":1,
	}';

	// USAGE EXAMPLE CREATES ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY OF KEY=>VALUE PAIRS
	$args["my_stuff"]  = $json_string;

	// ACTIVATE THIS TO SEE THE ARRAY OF ARGS
	// echo "JSON String Array: ";
	// var_dump($args);		

	// PREPARE THE POST STRING
	$post_string = NULL;
	foreach ($args as $key => $val)
	{
		$post_string .= $key . '=' . urlencode($val) . '&';
	}
	$post_string = rtrim($post_string, '&');

	$obj = curlInvoke($json_url, $post_string);	
	
?>

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So on the receiving side, how do I get the value that was posted? I think seeing http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_toddbpeterson.php code will tell me exactly what I need

Thanks so much!
Todd

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Ray Paseur

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ToddBPeterson

ASKER

Outstanding! Exactly what I needed!

Thanks so much!!!

Todd

Ray Paseur

Thanks for the points and thanks for using EE, ~Ray