PHP script POST to external form?

Anon

Is it possible for a PHP script to send data via POST to a form?

What I'm trying to do is create an particular ecommerce script. A user fills out a form on my site, which is validated on my site, and then that data needs to get sent to our ecommerce provider's billing form.

Here's the process I'm looking at. (If there's an easier way, let me know.)

1.) User enters name, email address and zip code on a form on our site.
2.) The data is verified via a PHP script on our site to make sure email address is correct and to see if the user is already in our database.
3.) If everything checks out OK, the users name, email address and zip is sent to the email commerce provider's form via https, where the user fills in credit card info.

What I want the user to see is that they enter name, email, zip on the first form, click submit, and if everything is groovy, get sent to the ecommerce providers billing form. So it looks like one click sends the user to the billing form.

Is that possible WITHOUT requiring the ecommerce provider to make changes to their system or to use something like XML-RPC?

Anon

I seriously doubt that any reputable "e-commer$e" provider will accept form input (directly) from from outside their domain. If yours does, find another e-commer$e provider. Most of them have other ways of accepting user input from partner sites, I think.

You might consider this -- it's a piece of cake these days to do your own cc processing and run a $hopping cart on your own site. Why not get the margin on the transaction yourself?

--ph

Anon

It's what the boss wants us to use: LinkPoint

We don't need or want to capture credit card information ourselves due to costs (both direct and indirect) and other factors.

We just want to capture name, email and zip, verify it in our database, ship the user off to the LinkPoint billing form to fill in credit card, etc., and then get the user back to our site with an APPROVED, where we'll take it from there.

Anon

Sounds like all they really do is clear the card and do the billing. I think I understood that you want to transfer validated user input key/values to the form on their site where users are supposed to enter their cc num.

You really want to avoid the user entering this stuff TWICE also, eh?

I just don't see how you can pull this off without some action on the part of LinkPoint -- you are needing to shortcut their cc form, and that's doable by passing your key/values with the GET method, but their form must (need to be altered to) have some way of accepting these. Especially if after the cc entry you want the user returned to your site.

--ph

Anon

Yes...

I can pass variables (hidden or not) to and custom variables through the LinkPoint process and have them passed back to me at the end.

I'd rather validate user name, email and zip before I pass them to LinkPoint for billing info entry and approval.

Anon

Well then it sounds like you don't have a problem. Just do your validation and then when all comes back OK, use the location() function like this:

$linkpoint = "http://www.linkpoint.com/capatilist/ripoff/ccform.cfm? // or .asp or .jsp or other ex$pensive technology

header("Location: $linkpoint?name=$name&email=$email&zip=$zip");

--ph

Anon

Thanks for the reply.

That looks like GET format, with the data formatted in the URL, no?

Is there any way to do it via POST?

Anon

It may not matter to LinkPoint which method you use. Sounds like you need a little more information from them.

You can do it with POST.

Make a form with POST as the method instead of using header() with values appended to the URL.

--ph

Anon

OK, call me stupid, but I'm a "show me" kind of person.

So from what you're suggesting, the first form in my process can POST to a PHP script, and that PHP script, via another form can POST to LinkPoint without the user clicking submit a second time?

How is that possible? Some other variation of the header function?

Anon

There may be a way to do a "Post" without any action on the part of the user, but I do not know about it.

Here is what I see needs to happen:

user submits name, email, zip
script processes it on your site.
2nd page on your site comes up...says "The following information (list the three) has been verified." Button says "Go to Secure Order Form"
user clicks button which submits the info via the "post" method.

...but you could eliminate the second click if your 'validation' script sends vars the way I originally suggested, via the header().

If you're concerned about the vars appearing in the address window of the users' browser, you could use a frameset (with one big frame) for the whole process.

--ph

Anon

I discovered that LinkPoint will only accept POST.

I did find a class at PX.sklar.com for http_post which enables PHP to POST, but haven't tried it yet.

Anon

Hi,

I have a similar problem that you had. Were you able to make http_post work with a SSL connection to the service provider?

Thanks!

mistcat

Hey Dude, I don't know if you ever got this resolved, but I found a solution to this problem on FAQTs.

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/12039/fid/51

that should do the trick for you right?

nate