Alternative for HTTPRequest in php

Question

I am using the HttpRequest class in my php script, but when I uploaded this script to my hosting provider's server, I get a fatal error when executing it:

Fatal error: Class 'HttpRequest' not found in ... on line 87

I believe the reason is because my hosting provider's php.ini configuration doesnt include the extension that supports HttpRequest. When i contacted them they said that we cannot install the following extentions on shared hosting. So i want the alternative for httpRequest which i make like this:

   $url= http://ip:8080/folder/SuspendSubscriber?subscriberId=5
    $data_string="";
    $request = new HTTPRequest($url, HTTP_METH_POST);
    $request->setRawPostData($data_string);
    $request->send();    
    $response = $request->getResponseBody();
    $response= json_decode($response, true);
    return $response;

Or How can i use this request in curl as it is not working for empty datastring?

Answer 1

Use the cURL in php

<?php
// A very simple PHP example that sends a HTTP POST to a remote site
$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,"http://example.com/feed.rss");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,"postvar1=value1&postvar2=value2");

// in real life you should use something like:
// curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, 
//          http_build_query(array('postvar1' => 'value1')));

// receive server response ...
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$server_output = curl_exec ($ch);

curl_close ($ch);

// further processing ....
if ($server_output == "OK") { ... } else { ... }

?>

for more see this PHP Difference between Curl and HttpRequest

Answer 2

you can use a framework like zend do this. framework usually have multiple adapters (curl,socket,proxy).

here is a sample with ZF2:

    $request = new \Zend\Http\Request();
    $request->setUri('[url]');
    $request->setMethod(\Zend\Http\Request::METHOD_POST);
    $request->getPost()->set('key', $value);

    $client = new \Zend\Http\Client();
    $client->setEncType('application/x-www-form-urlencoded');

    $response = false;
    try {
        /* @var $response \Zend\Http\Response */
        $response = $client->dispatch($request);
    } catch (Exception $e) {
        //handle error
    }

    if ($response && $response->isSuccess()) {
        $result = $response->getBody();            
    } else {
        $error = $response->getBody();
    }

you don't have to use the entire framework just include (or autoload) the classes that you need.

Answer 3

a slight variaton on the curl methods proposed, i decode the json that is returned, like in this snippet

Answer 4

You can use CURL in php like this:

$ch = curl_init( $url );
$data_string  = " ";
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data_string );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type:application/json'));   
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );   
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);    
return $result;

and empty data string doesn't make sense in post request, but i've checked it with empty data string and it works quiet well.