PHP Language - POSTing to my own scripts

Author

POSTing to my own scripts

Steven Stern

2004-09-15, 3:56 pm

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

2. Is there a better way?

Andy Hassall

2004-09-15, 3:57 pm

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:42:31 GMT, Steven Stern
<sdsternNOSPAMHERE@NOSPAMHEREmindspring.com> wrote:

>I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
>POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
>cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
>a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
>session.
>
>I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
>pretend browser session.
>
>1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
>that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?
>
>2. Is there a better way?

If you want automated posting, then Perl's WWW::Mechanize module is excellent,
or the LWP module for a lower-level approach.

For a PHP solution, then I think there's cURL: http://uk.php.net/curl but I've
never used it.

--
Andy Hassall / <andy@andyh.co.uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk>
<http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage analysis tool

Manuel Lemos

2004-09-15, 3:57 pm

Hello,

On 09/15/2004 10:42 AM, Steven Stern wrote:
> I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
> POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
> cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
> a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
> session.
>
> I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
> pretend browser session.
>
> 1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
> that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

This class does exactly what you ask, it submits forms with POST,
including submitting large files if necessary, it can collect cookies
and redirection if you need to emulate a login session.

http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

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http://www.phpclasses.org/

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Steven Stern

2004-09-15, 9:22 pm

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:42:08 -0300 (more or less), Manuel Lemos
<mlemos@acm.org> wrote:

>Hello,

>
>This class does exactly what you ask, it submits forms with POST,
>including submitting large files if necessary, it can collect cookies
>and redirection if you need to emulate a login session.
>
>http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient

THANKS

R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah

2004-09-16, 4:52 am

Steven Stern <sdsternNOSPAMHERE@NOSPAMHEREmindspring.com> wrote in message news:<afhgk0t9atclcqiv67gepmus6d1k2ga9qm@4ax.com>...
> I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
> POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
> cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
> a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
> session.
>
> I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
> pretend browser session.
>
> 1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
> that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

http://in2.php.net/fsockopen

> 2. Is there a better way?

http://in.php.net/curl

--
| Just another PHP saint |
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com

David Risner

2004-09-16, 8:32 pm

Steven Stern wrote:
> I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
> POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
> cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
> a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
> session.
>
> I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
> pretend browser session.
>
> 1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
> that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?
>
> 2. Is there a better way?

You should look at the curl module. It nicely encapsulates this.

--
David G. Risner
Software Engineer, California State University, Los Angeles
http://www.risner.org/david/

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