PHP equivalent of Javascript XMLHttpRequest

Question

I have a PHP function:

function saveSnapshot() {
    header("Content-Type: application/JSON: charset=UTF-8");
    global $CFG;
    $resString = "{\"Success\": \"True\"}";

    $snapshotName = getArgument("snapshotName");
    $user = getArgument("userId");
    $ttd = getArgument("ttData");
    $fed = getArgument("feData");
    $ttData = json_decode($ttd, true);  
    $feData = json_decode($fed, true);

And I'm calling this function using Javascript Ajax call:

xhttp.open("POST", "myfile.php", true); // asynchronous
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

xhttp.send("reqType=saveNewSnapshot&newSnapshotName=" + newSnapshotName + "&currentSnapshotName=" + currentSnapshotName +
                    "&configId=" + currentConfigId + "&ttData=" + JSON.stringify(timeTable) +
                    "&feData=" + JSON.stringify(fixedEntry));

Now instead of calling the saveSnapshot function in php file using javascript ajax, I want to call the saveSnapshot function from some other PHP file.

How do I do this? How do I make the call? How do I pass the parameters?

You can take a look to PHP `cURL` - http://codular.com/curl-with-php — Diego, May 25 '17 at 15:05
There are a few ways, but I prefer cURL as the easiest method. — richbai90, May 25 '17 at 15:05
Honestly, the easiest way to do this would be with a library like Guzzle. cURL is a PITA — Ryan Cady, May 25 '17 at 15:07
There are few examples in the link. I think that the 'POST request' is the one you are interested in. — Diego, May 25 '17 at 15:09
AS said above Guzzle is very nice to work with, you could go with cURL Too — Dale, May 25 '17 at 15:11
@RyanScottCady please can you post an example regarding this with Guzzle? — user5155835, May 25 '17 at 15:19
Possible duplicate of [How do I send a POST request with PHP?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5647461/how-do-i-send-a-post-request-with-php) — Alex Blex, May 25 '17 at 15:19

Ryan Cady · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-26T14:24:27.977

2

cURL is a good option if you don't want to add an external library example below: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.curl.php

// Initialize curl object
$ch = curl_init();

// Create post data
$data = array(
    'reqType' => saveNewSnapshot,
    'newSnapshotName' => $newSnapshotName,
    'currentSnapshotName' => $currentSnapshotName,
    'configId' => $currentConfigId,
    'ttData' => $timeTable,
    'feData' => $fixedEntry
);

// Set curl options
curl_setopt_array($ch, array(
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => 1, // Return information from server
    CURLOPT_URL => 'myfile.php',
    CURLOPT_POST => 1, // Normal HTTP post 
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $data
));

// Execute curl and return result to $response
$response = curl_exec($ch);
// Close request
curl_close($ch);

I prefer to use a library like Guzzle, because it allows me to not have to recreate the wheel.

Guzzle Example: http://docs.guzzlephp.org/en/latest/overview.html

use GuzzleHttp\Client;

$client = new Client([
    'base_uri' => '/',
    'timeout'  => 2.0,
]);

// Create post data
$data = array(
    'reqType' => saveNewSnapshot,
    'newSnapshotName' => $newSnapshotName,
    'currentSnapshotName' => $currentSnapshotName,
    'configId' => $currentConfigId,
    'ttData' => $timeTable,
    'feData' => $fixedEntry
);

$response = $client->post('myfile.php', array($data));

edited May 26 '17 at 14:24

answered May 25 '17 at 15:27

Ryan Cady

333
2
11

Thanks for the curl code. Also, in 'reqType' => $saveNewSnapshot, $ should not be there, it should only be 'reqType' => saveNewSnapshot. Since saveNewSnaphot is the function name – user5155835 May 25 '17 at 15:56
ah I didn't realize that was a function! Hopefully this answers your question! If so I'd appreciate it if you could accept this as your answer :) – Ryan Cady May 25 '17 at 18:47
Can you make the changes, make $saveNewSnapshot to saveNewSnapshot – user5155835 May 26 '17 at 05:50
Sure. I added that in there. Is `saveNewSnapshot` a method that you are running? – Ryan Cady May 26 '17 at 14:25
Yes, saveNewSnapshot is a method – user5155835 May 26 '17 at 15:02
The JS code in question has xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); Does your curl code take care of this? – user5155835 Jun 15 '17 at 06:43

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 25 '17 at 15:20

No need for extra libraries here... you can use file_get_contents() to POST, and php has functions to build urls. I would probably make it look something like this:

<?php

$query = http_build_query(
    array(
        'reqType' => 'data',
        'newSnapshotName' => 'example',
        'currentSnapshotName' => '1',
        'configId' => '2',
        'ttData' => '4',
        'feData' => '5'
    )
);

$options = array('http' =>
    array(
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'header'  => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    )
);

file_get_contents('http://server.com/myfile.php?' . $query, false, stream_context_create($options));

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 25 '17 at 15:20

Basic cURL Example. More options can be found at http://php.net/manual/en/function.curl-setopt.php

<?php

$curl = curl_init();
// set the options we want
curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
    // Return the response from the server
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => 1,
    // The URL we wish to post to
    CURLOPT_URL => 'myfile.php'
    // Add our headers
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
        'Content-Type: application/JSON: charset=UTF-8'
    )
    // Post
    CURLOPT_POST => 1,
    // Set post fields
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
        reqType => 'saveNewSnapshot',
        newSnapshotName= => 'newSnapshotName'
        // ...
    )
));

// Send the request & save response to $resp
$resp = curl_exec($curl);
// Close request to clear up some resources
curl_close($curl);

PHP equivalent of Javascript XMLHttpRequest

3 Answers3