PHP - Convert file to binary and send it using HTTP POST

Question

I am going to convert some file using php and send it as a part of HTTP POST request. There is part of my code:

        $context = stream_context_create(array(
        'http' => array(
            'method' => 'POST',
            'header' => "Content-type: " . $this->contentType."",
            'content' => "file=".$file
        )
            ));
    $data = file_get_contents($this->url, false, $context);

Does variable $file have to be byte representation of the file which I want to send?

And is that correct way to send file in php without using form? Have you got any clues?

Also what is the way to convert file to byte representation using PHP?

Can you be more specific what do you mean in converting to binary? and what kind of files do you have? — Leri
– Leri, Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 14:05
In current case I want to send xml file, but I think the code above can be use to send any type of file - and I want that. Converting to binary - converting file to byte array. — Mirek
– Mirek, Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 14:12

nathan · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-27 14:08:41Z

2

You may find it much easier to use CURL, for example:

function curlPost($url,$file) {
  $ch = curl_init();
  if (!is_resource($ch)) return false;
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER , 0 );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION , 0 );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_URL , $url );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_POST , 1 );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS , '@' . $file );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER , 1 );
  curl_setopt( $ch , CURLOPT_VERBOSE , 0 );
  $response = curl_exec($ch);
  curl_close($ch);
  return $response;
}

Where $url is where you want to post to, and $file is the path to the file you want to send.

answered Jun 27, 2012 at 14:08

nathan

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1 Comment

Mirek Over a year ago

OK, this is true. But what if my restriction is that php server which I want to do that doesn't have installed curl extension?

Timothy · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-29 19:27:30Z

1

Oddly enough I just wrote an article and illustrated this same scenario. (phpmaster.com/5-inspiring-and-useful-php-snippets). But to get you started, here's code that should work:

<?php
$context = stream_context_create(array(
        "http" => array(
            "method" => "POST",
            "header" => "Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--foo\r\n",
            "content" => "--foo\r\n"
                . "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"myFile\"; filename=\"image.jpg\"\r\n"
                . "Content-Type: image/jpeg\r\n\r\n"
                . file_get_contents("image.jpg") . "\r\n"
                . "--foo--"
        )
    ));

    $html = file_get_contents("http://example.com/upload.php", false, $context);

In situations like these it helps to make a mock web form and run it through Firefox with firebug enabled or something, and then inspect the request that was sent. From there you can deduce the important things to include.

edited Jun 29, 2012 at 19:27

answered Jun 27, 2012 at 14:47

Timothy

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1 Comment

Mirek Over a year ago

Finally I used curl to send file with data. It is very easy to install and use. Thank you all for clues. There is code which I used: blog.derakkilgo.com/2009/06/07/…

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