Posting data to a script problem

jonathan89

I got this function below from zend.com. It can be used to simulate HTTP POST (sending form values to a script).

<?php
function post_it($datastream, $url) { 

   $url = preg_replace("@^[url]http://@i[/url]", "", $url); 
   $host = substr($url, 0, strpos($url, "/")); 
   $uri = strstr($url, "/"); 

   $reqbody = ""; 
   foreach($datastream as $key=>$val) { 
      if (!empty($reqbody)) $reqbody.= "&"; 
      $reqbody.= $key."=".urlencode($val); 
   } 

   $contentlength = strlen($reqbody); 
   $reqheader =  "POST $uri HTTP/1.0\r\n". 
                 "Host: $host\n". "User-Agent: PostIt\r\n". 
                 "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n". 
                 "Content-Length: $contentlength\r\n\r\n". 
                 "$reqbody\r\n"; 

   $socket = fsockopen($host, 80, $errno, $errstr); 

   if (!$socket) { 
      $result["errno"] = $errno; 
      $result["errstr"] = $errstr; 
      return $result; 
   } 

   fputs($socket, $reqheader); 

   while (!feof($socket)) { 
      $result[] = fgets($socket, 4096); 
   } 

   fclose($socket); 

   return $result; 
} 	
?>

Example how to use it :

  $data["Username"] = "something"; 
  $data["Password"] = "thepassword"; 

  post_it($data, "http://www.example.com/login.php"); 

  if (isset($result["errno"])) { 
     $errno = $result["errno"]; 
     $errstr = $result["errstr"]; 
     echo "<B>Error $errno</B> $errstr"; 
     exit; 
  } else { 
     for($i=0;$i< count($result); $i++) echo $result[$i]; 
  }

I think it works fine. But the script "stays". I meant, in the login.php it will check the username and password and if correct, user will be redirected to "main.php" (and created a php session).

When I use the function, I got no redirection.

Anyone know any workaround to this problem?

Thanks.

bpat1434

That's easy:

When you run post_it the function returns information via a variable to the script you're currently in. What you need to do is modify the if() statement underneath it and check for what you want. Most likely what you need to do is remove the for() statement, and put a header("Location: blabhalbhalh"); line there instead.

This function is a mirror of cURL except it doesn't require a library in PHP. cURL and this function won't redirect you, but will post to another script and get the results. If you want to redirect, you have to set the header location and such.

This looks like a simple login, why can't you just post the form to the login.php script? Why go around passing variables through an extra script?

~Brett

jonathan89

Thanks for the explanation.

If the username and password correct, login.php will create a session and redirect to main.php :

    if ($password != $row['password']) {
        header("Location: error.php?msg=Password does not match");
     } else {
        session_start();
        if (isset($_SESSION['username'])) {
           header("Location: main.php");
        } else {
           // create session and redirect to the main.php
           $_SESSION['username'] = $username;
           header("Location: main.php");
        }	  

     }

the post_it() function will return somekind of text (HTTP data? telling about Location: main.php), not the redirection itself.

I need this because I need to login from a Win32 (windows application) : From inside this application, I need to open a web browser, and access main.php without having to type the username and password.

That's the reason.

Now, if I parse the result of the post_it() function, and I found "main.php", then I will invoke header("Location: main.php"); from the post_it() script. Will this be a problem with the session created by login.php before ?

Thanks.

Originally posted by bpat1434
That's easy:

When you run post_it the function returns information via a variable to the script you're currently in. What you need to do is modify the if() statement underneath it and check for what you want. Most likely what you need to do is remove the for() statement, and put a header("Location: blabhalbhalh"); line there instead.

This function is a mirror of cURL except it doesn't require a library in PHP. cURL and this function won't redirect you, but will post to another script and get the results. If you want to redirect, you have to set the header location and such.

This looks like a simple login, why can't you just post the form to the login.php script? Why go around passing variables through an extra script?

~Brett

bpat1434

There shouldn't be a problem so long that you use session_start() at the top of each page, or you define what session you want to access.

~Brett