4

I am trying to pass a json data as param for cURL POST. However, I am stuck at grabbing it and saving it on db.

cURL file:

$data = array("name" => "Hagrid", "age" => "36");                                                                    
$data_string = json_encode($data);                                                                                   

$url = 'http://localhost/project/test_curl';

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(                                                                          
                                    'Content-Type: application/json')                                                                                           
                                    );                       
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data_string);                                                                                                     

$result = curl_exec($ch);  

//based on http://www.lornajane.net/posts/2011/posting-json-data-with-php-curl

test_curl file:

    $order_info = $_POST; // this seems to not returning anything

    //SAVE TO DB... saving empty...

What did I miss? Weew....

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5
  • As mentioned in your tutorial link you have to add the content length parameter as an additional header. I can ensure that this tutorial totally works (I used it for myself 2 days ago). If that does not work maybe the designed target of the curl request does not have the expected behaviour. Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 10:03
  • By the way, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS need an associative array to post, like array('data' => $data_string) otherwise it won't post anything Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 10:06
  • @DieVarDump That is not true. It accepts a string or an associative array. If you want to use Content-Type: application/json it must be a string. It is better to create the string yourself and pass that, because if you pass an array the Content-Type will be multipart/form-data and the request body will likely be much larger than it would be if you use application/x-www-form-urlencoded. Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 10:08
  • @DaveRandom yes, my mistake, i didn't see the HTTPHEADER... forget about my previous comment. Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 10:15
  • @TRD Yes... I just got confused on handling JSON post and just mentioned in my question where I get my example. Just sayin' there is no problem with the tutorial... it's me having a problem grasping it. :) Thanks man! Commented Jan 30, 2012 at 10:17

2 Answers 2

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20

You are sending the data as raw JSON in the body, it will not populate the $_POST variable.

You need to do one of two things:

  1. You can change the content type to one that will populate the $_POST array
  2. You can read the raw body data.

I would recommend option two if you have control over both ends of the communication, as it will keep the request body size to a minimum and save bandwidth over time. (Edit: I didn't really emphasize here that the amount of bandwidth it will save is negligible, only a few bytes per request, this would only be a valid concern is very high traffic environments. However I still recommend option two because it is the cleanest way)

In your test_curl file, do this:

$fp = fopen('php://input', 'r');
$rawData = stream_get_contents($fp);

$postedJson = json_decode($rawData);

var_dump($postedJson);

If you want to populate the $_POST variable, you will need to change the way you send the data to the server:

$data = array (
  'name' => 'Hagrid',
  'age' => '36'
);

$bodyData = array (
  'json' => json_encode($data)
);
$bodyStr = http_build_query($bodyData);

$url = 'http://localhost/project/test_curl';

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(
  'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
  'Content-Length: '.strlen($bodyStr)
));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $bodyStr);

$result = curl_exec($ch);

The raw, undecoded JSON will now be available in $_POST['json'].

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7 Comments

I did option two. Thank you very much! It worked and you did explain it well... wooow I did miss a lot. Again, thanks!
thx for this details, Does the GET works the same with those 2 content types?
@ciril A GET request has no content, and therefore no content-type. If you wan't to pass JSON via GET (which I don't recommend, by the way) you need to append it to the URL. For example $url = 'http://example.com/script.php?json='.urlencode(json_encode($data)); - the data will then be available in $_GET['json'] at the other end.
right, so I can also remove in my code curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $httpHeader); when performing a get probably, thx
If all the headers are related to content, probably yes. Although to be honest I think cURL is pretty intelligent when it comes to inspecting the headers before use - I doubt it would break if you leave them in.
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0

Use following php function for posting data using php curl function in x-www-form-urlencoded format.

<?php
    $bodyData = http_build_query($data); //for x-www-form-urlencoded
?>
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1 Comment

Please be careful with linking to your own content on different sites, you don't want to be a spammer. You should be including the majority of the content here, and use the link only as a reference.

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