[Resolved] error while trying to open remote files in fopen

rahulsince1983

hie everyone,

This is my first post here and I hope its in the right place. :p I am new to php and Apache, I have already googled for the problem, but didnt find anything. Ok, over to the problem.

When I try to open a remote file through fopen, well, not exactly a "remote" file, but its a file on my pc only and i am providing the entire url coz I have to implement this in a "real" environment, .... Apache server hangs and then gives the error shown in screenshot.

fopen("http://172.16.x.x/ta/owner.htm","r");

The syntax is correct, also i have enabled allow_url_fopen in php.ini file. The file opens fine when i open it "locally" like this...

fopen("owner.htm","r");

I also tried opening 'remote' files using

include("http://172.16.x.x/ta/owner.htm");

and it works fine, but the same thing doesnt work with fopen(). 😕

I would be grateful if anyone can point me to a solution. I am badly stuckup bcoz of this. Thanks for taking the time to read.

P.S. I am on Windows XP Prof (SP2) and PHP Version 4.3.10

elementaluk

try 'rb' instead of 'r' .

You also can't use fopen through a proxy nor can you download any data from any other port apart from 80.

The comments posted under this function in the PHP manual will probably be more helpful

bradgrafelman

I would definitely try the solution elementaluk posted, including referencing to PHP's manual on fopen() here.

On that same link, you may also find examples of a diffrent approach; actually opening a socket to the remote HTTP server, sending the GET command, and grabbing the page that way. A bit superfluous, albeit doable if fopen() just seems to not work.

You said you're using SP2? shudders. I'm not too savvy about SP2, mainly because I dislike it to the point I won't download nor deploy it at my network or home computer, though perhaps SP2 is blocking the connection so rudely that Apache is hanging? SP2's firewall, for example, may even be the culprit in this case.

If you can avoid opening across protocols, such as HTTP, and use local references instead, by all means, do so. If not, go through all of these suggestions and post again with any more info you can get! Good luck.

(P.S., I'm running Windows XP Home, SP1, with Apache and PHP, and I've never had a problem with fopen() hanging like that. Perhaps you have an outdated version of either Apache or PHP? Post your version numbers if you can't get anything else to work.)

rahulsince1983

Thanks both for replying. 🙂

I tried the 'rb'.. no luck. Also, checked manual on fopen(), no luck there either. Regarding using GET command I havent yet tried that, mostly coz most of what you said went over my head.

I have an all-in-one package which installs and configures Apache, Php, MySql and PhpAdmin. I tried installing the same on 98(to run the code on 98) but that package requires XP, so I downloaded and installed independent versions, but its really cumbersome to configure everything to make it work with each other for a newbie like me. I am done with configuring Apache and PHP, but MySql part is left. I will do that tommorow.

One of my friends suggested me to post my entire problem definition.. so here it goes..

I am making a project on targeted advertising as a part of my final year engg prj. I are already done with the searching, scanning etc and it works just fine when I execute everything locally. But when I try to execute anything by giving full path as mentioned in previous post, it just doesnt work.

The 'search or displaying the ads' code is included in a file named final.php which is "called" by the html file named owner.html. Owner.html is the file where i want to display advts. (its like google ads)

So, now i need to work out 2 things...
1. HOW to call the final.php file from the html file ? Is there any javascript function to include or call a remote php file frm html file? I tried "location.replace(http://172.16.x.x/ta/final.php)" but it replaces contents of entire page and displays only the advt instead of displaying the contents of the page with advts on the side. I have used tables.

The function fopen() opens the "calling" page which in this case is..
```
fopen("http://172.16.x.x./ta/owner.html","r");
```
And that doesnt work either for me. 🙁

Is there any alternate idea you guys could suggest for implementing the same ?

bradgrafelman

Well, a bit off the topic of this website, but you could use JavaScript here.

I'm a bit confuzzled as to what you're doing, but it sounds to me like you have this HTML page, and you want to call a PHP banner/advertisement script.

What I personally would do, if you wanted to load the HTML and opent he PHP from there, would be to either use a frame or an iframe. iframe's aren't too good compatibility-wise, though.

Also, are you sure you're not being firewalled or behind a LAN/proxy? SP2's notorious firewall is nothing but a hindrance in my opinion.

What I would like to see you do, is make a test php page on your server that looks like this:

<?PHP

if($stream = @fopen("http://www.yahoo.com/", "rb")) echo "Connected."; else echo "Could not connect.";

fclose($stream);

?>

and tell me what happens (i.e. if it hangs, or if it correctly prints "Connected.").

rahulsince1983

Thanks a ton for replying.

I'm a bit confuzzled as to what you're doing, but it sounds to me like you have this HTML page, and you want to call a PHP banner/advertisement script.

Yes, that is EXACTLY what I am trying to do. 🙂

I tried the frames thing earlier but that doesn't meet my requirement. And as you said, I-frame may have some compatibility problems. So, I want to stay away from frames.

I use ZoneAlarm and have disabled XP's built-in firewall. I even tried disabling ZA, but that didnt help either. So, its not the firewall. And yes, I am in a LAN environment but that should not cause any problems as I am executing things locally. 😉

Finally, the code u supplied worked and also this piece of code worked..

<?PHP

if($stream = @fopen("http://172.16.x.x/ta/owner.htm", "rb")) echo "Connected."; else echo "Could not connect.";

fclose($stream);

?>

But when i put this exact same fopen statement in my php file, Apache hangs. :mad: I also tried putting fopen yahoo.com as in ur example in my php file, and it too worked.. so, that was quite a relief 🙂 and that's exactly what I need, but still, why isn't fopen able to open a file on my OWN computer by giving absolute address i.e. 172.16......

Regarding putting the javascript code in my HTML file, to call the php file, can you direct me to a site where I can ask the same?

bradgrafelman

I don't know why I was saying it could be done with Javascript; I was probably thinking about IFrames and such.

So, let me get this straight. My code worked for both yahoo AND your IP you have.

Yahoo also worked in the code you are trying to use. The IP you have, however, still caused Apache to hang. Is this correct? If so, did you run both tests on the same server we've been dealing with all along?

Also, where is this IP? It looks like it's an external one (outside your LAN).

I'm a bit confused if the IP worked one place, but not another. Is there any way you could attach the full PHP script for me/us to take a peek at?

rahulsince1983

hie, sorry for the late reply.

That IP is the IP of my OWN computer. I have been running all the tests on just 1 pc and that is mine. But my PC is connected in LAN and our LAN is behind a NAT. Hence my ip is 172.16.x.x. But thats ok, because i can open a website using fopen and that serves the purpose. So that problem can be considered "re-solved". 🙂

Regarding calling php file from html file using javascript, I found JpSpan which can “hook up” PHP and Javascript... it's really difficult to understand for me. Though, i tried integrating this thing with my files, I am getting loads of errors.

If you think you can help, please do reply.

Once again, thanks a lot for helping me out this far. 🙂

bradgrafelman

Well, you could always use "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" instead, assuming you have the webserver listening on those ports, which brings me to another point: are you sure your webserver is listening on the IP you were using?

At any rate, hope you found a working solution. Don't forget to mark this thread as 'solved' using the link if you did.

rahulsince1983

I tried both 127.0.0.1 and localhost before. No luck. Anyway, as i said earlier, it doesnt matter much now.

rahulsince1983

This is just to inform that I solved the first problem too, i.e. calling an external php file from a html file. It's pretty simple.. just includes the lines shown in the example below.

HTML file

<script language="javascript" src="final.php"> </script>

PHP file

echo "document.write('Its Working!!!');";