So I have been looking online for several hours for what I think is a very simple answer but I can't seem to find it.
I am trying to understand how PDF form data submitting works. My goal is to read form data submitted from a PDF form that I set up into my PHP script. I want my PHP script to parse the form data and plug it into my SQL database.
The roadblock I am running into is how do I receive the file so I can parse it?
What is the filename of the file that gets submitted?
I have my submit button setup on my PDF form and I can export it in FDF, HTML, or XFDF, but I am just trying to get the data into a string or get the contents somehow into PHP but I don't know how.
If I try:
$fileFromPDF = file_get_contents('file.txt', true);
I still need the name of a file, and I don't know the name of the file that is being submitted from the PDF form. How do I get the name of this file? Is it even a file or just a line of xml? If it is just a line of XML, how do I receive this?
Any help would be appreciated or if someone could point me in the right direction.
I think I finally found out the answer to this. I used this code:
$post_body = file_get_contents('php://input');
and I was able to get a string.
If anyone knows a better way, I am all ears. Thank you!
function ArrayFromHttpPut() { # assume a simple PUT, like a PDF form submission
$arrRtn = array(); # init result
$strInp = file_get_contents('php://input'); # PUT data comes in on StdIn, not in GET
$arrInp = explode("\r\n", $strInp, 2); # break input into array by only the first CrLf
$strBnd = $arrInp[0]; # first line of input is content boundary
$strInp = $arrInp[1]; # proceed with remainder of input
$arrInp = explode($strBnd, $strInp); # break input into array by content boundary
foreach ($arrInp as $idxInp => $strInp) { # scan input items
$arrItm = explode("\r\n\r\n", $strInp, 2); # break each item into array by only the first double-blank line
$arrItm[0] = trim($arrItm[0]); # drop spurious leading and trailing
$arrItm[1] = trim($arrItm[1]); # blank lines from both parts
$arrItmNam = explode('=', $arrItm[0]); # break item name away from Content-Disposition wording
$strItmNam = str_replace('"', '', $arrItmNam[1]); # get item name without its enclosing double-quotes
$strItmVal = $arrItm [1] ; # get item value
$arrRtn[$strItmNam] = $strItmVal; # append (item-name => item-value) to output buffer
} # done with scanning input items
return $arrRtn; # pass result back to caller
} # ArrayFromHttpPut