How do I send a POST request with PHP?

Question

Actually I want to read the contents that come after the search query, when it is done. The problem is that the URL only accepts POST methods, and it does not take any action with GET method...

I have to read all contents with the help of domdocument or file_get_contents(). Is there any method that will let me send parameters with POST method and then read the contents via PHP?

Solution 1

CURL-less method with PHP5:

$url = 'http://server.com/path';
$data = array('key1' => 'value1', 'key2' => 'value2');

// use key 'http' even if you send the request to https://...
$options = array(
    'http' => array(
        'header'  => "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n",
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'content' => http_build_query($data)
    )
);
$context  = stream_context_create($options);
$result = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
if ($result === FALSE) { /* Handle error */ }

var_dump($result);

See the PHP manual for more information on the method and how to add headers, for example:

• stream_context_create: http://php.net/manual/en/function.stream-context-create.php

Solution 2

You could use cURL:

<?php
//The url you wish to send the POST request to
$url = $file_name;

//The data you want to send via POST
$fields = [
    '__VIEWSTATE '      => $state,
    '__EVENTVALIDATION' => $valid,
    'btnSubmit'         => 'Submit'
];

//url-ify the data for the POST
$fields_string = http_build_query($fields);

//open connection
$ch = curl_init();

//set the url, number of POST vars, POST data
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $fields_string);

//So that curl_exec returns the contents of the cURL; rather than echoing it
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); 

//execute post
$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;
?>

Solution 3

I use the following function to post data using curl. $data is an array of fields to post (will be correctly encoded using http_build_query). The data is encoded using application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

function httpPost($url, $data)
{
    $curl = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($data));
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    $response = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    return $response;
}

@Edward mentions that http_build_query may be omitted since curl will correctly encode array passed to CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS parameter, but be advised that in this case the data will be encoded using multipart/form-data.

I use this function with APIs that expect data to be encoded using application/x-www-form-urlencoded. That's why I use http_build_query().

Solution 4

I recommend you to use the open-source package guzzle that is fully unit tested and uses the latest coding practices.

Installing Guzzle

Go to the command line in your project folder and type in the following command (assuming you already have the package manager composer installed). If you need help how to install Composer, you should have a look here.

php composer.phar require guzzlehttp/guzzle

Using Guzzle to send a POST request

The usage of Guzzle is very straight forward as it uses a light-weight object-oriented API:

// Initialize Guzzle client
$client = new GuzzleHttp\Client();

// Create a POST request
$response = $client->request(
    'POST',
    'http://example.org/',
    [
        'form_params' => [
            'key1' => 'value1',
            'key2' => 'value2'
        ]
    ]
);

// Parse the response object, e.g. read the headers, body, etc.
$headers = $response->getHeaders();
$body = $response->getBody();

// Output headers and body for debugging purposes
var_dump($headers, $body);

Solution 5

I'd like to add some thoughts about the curl-based answer of Fred Tanrikut. I know most of them are already written in the answers above, but I think it is a good idea to show an answer that includes all of them together.

Here is the class I wrote to make HTTP-GET/POST/PUT/DELETE requests based on curl, concerning just about the response body:

class HTTPRequester {
    /**
     * @description Make HTTP-GET call
     * @param       $url
     * @param       array $params
     * @return      HTTP-Response body or an empty string if the request fails or is empty
     */
    public static function HTTPGet($url, array $params) {
        $query = http_build_query($params); 
        $ch    = curl_init($url.'?'.$query);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        curl_close($ch);
        return $response;
    }
    /**
     * @description Make HTTP-POST call
     * @param       $url
     * @param       array $params
     * @return      HTTP-Response body or an empty string if the request fails or is empty
     */
    public static function HTTPPost($url, array $params) {
        $query = http_build_query($params);
        $ch    = curl_init();
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $query);
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        curl_close($ch);
        return $response;
    }
    /**
     * @description Make HTTP-PUT call
     * @param       $url
     * @param       array $params
     * @return      HTTP-Response body or an empty string if the request fails or is empty
     */
    public static function HTTPPut($url, array $params) {
        $query = \http_build_query($params);
        $ch    = \curl_init();
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_URL, $url);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'PUT');
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $query);
        $response = \curl_exec($ch);
        \curl_close($ch);
        return $response;
    }
    /**
     * @category Make HTTP-DELETE call
     * @param    $url
     * @param    array $params
     * @return   HTTP-Response body or an empty string if the request fails or is empty
     */
    public static function HTTPDelete($url, array $params) {
        $query = \http_build_query($params);
        $ch    = \curl_init();
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_URL, $url);
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'DELETE');
        \curl_setopt($ch, \CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $query);
        $response = \curl_exec($ch);
        \curl_close($ch);
        return $response;
    }
}

Improvements

• Using http_build_query to get the query-string out of an request-array.(you could also use the array itself, therefore see: http://php.net/manual/en/function.curl-setopt.php)
• Returning the response instead of echoing it. Btw you can avoid the returning by removing the line curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);. After that the return value is a boolean(true = request was successful otherwise an error occured) and the response is echoed. See: http://php.net/en/manual/function.curl-exec.php
• Clean session closing and deletion of the curl-handler by using curl_close. See: http://php.net/manual/en/function.curl-close.php
• Using boolean values for the curl_setopt function instead of using any number.(I know that any number not equal zero is also considered as true, but the usage of true generates a more readable code, but that's just my opinion)
• Ability to make HTTP-PUT/DELETE calls(useful for RESTful service testing)

Example of usage

GET

$response = HTTPRequester::HTTPGet("http://localhost/service/foobar.php", array("getParam" => "foobar"));

POST

$response = HTTPRequester::HTTPPost("http://localhost/service/foobar.php", array("postParam" => "foobar"));

PUT

$response = HTTPRequester::HTTPPut("http://localhost/service/foobar.php", array("putParam" => "foobar"));

DELETE

$response = HTTPRequester::HTTPDelete("http://localhost/service/foobar.php", array("deleteParam" => "foobar"));

Testing

You can also make some cool service tests by using this simple class.

class HTTPRequesterCase extends TestCase {
    /**
     * @description test static method HTTPGet
     */
    public function testHTTPGet() {
        $requestArr = array("getLicenses" => 1);
        $url        = "http://localhost/project/req/licenseService.php";
        $this->assertEquals(HTTPRequester::HTTPGet($url, $requestArr), '[{"error":false,"val":["NONE","AGPL","GPLv3"]}]');
    }
    /**
     * @description test static method HTTPPost
     */
    public function testHTTPPost() {
        $requestArr = array("addPerson" => array("foo", "bar"));
        $url        = "http://localhost/project/req/personService.php";
        $this->assertEquals(HTTPRequester::HTTPPost($url, $requestArr), '[{"error":false}]');
    }
    /**
     * @description test static method HTTPPut
     */
    public function testHTTPPut() {
        $requestArr = array("updatePerson" => array("foo", "bar"));
        $url        = "http://localhost/project/req/personService.php";
        $this->assertEquals(HTTPRequester::HTTPPut($url, $requestArr), '[{"error":false}]');
    }
    /**
     * @description test static method HTTPDelete
     */
    public function testHTTPDelete() {
        $requestArr = array("deletePerson" => array("foo", "bar"));
        $url        = "http://localhost/project/req/personService.php";
        $this->assertEquals(HTTPRequester::HTTPDelete($url, $requestArr), '[{"error":false}]');
    }
}

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