PHP Consuming RESTful APIs Fetching a URL with an Arbitrary Method and POST

PHP Consuming RESTful APIs

Fetching a URL with an Arbitrary Method and POST Body

Problem

You want to request a URL using any method, such as POST, PUT, or DELETE. Your POST or PUT request may contain formatted data, such as JSON or XML.

Solution

Set the method, header, and content stream context options when using the http stream:

       $url = 'http://www.example.com/meals/123';

       $header = "Content-Type: application/json";

       // The request body, in JSON

       $body = '[{

               "type": "appetizer",

               "dish": "Chicken Soup"

       }, {

               "type": "main course",

               "dish": "Fried Monkey Brains"

       }]';

       $options = array('method' => 'put',

               'header' => $header,

               'content' => $body);

       // Create the stream context

       $context = stream_context_create(array('http' => $options));

       // Pass the context to file_get_contents()

       print file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

With cURL, set the CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST option to the method name. To include a request body, set CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER to the Content-Type and CURLOPT_POST FIELDS to the body:

       $url = 'http://www.example.com/meals/123';

       // The request body, in JSON

       $body = '[{

               "type": "appetizer",

               "dish": "Chicken Soup"

       }, {

               "type": "main course",

               "dish": "Fried Monkey Brains"

       }]';

       $c = curl_init($url);

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'PUT');

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/json'));

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $body);

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

       $page = curl_exec($c);

       curl_close($c);

In HTTP_Request2, call setMethod() with a method constant, setHeader() with the Content-Type, and setBody() with the contents of the request body:

       require 'HTTP/Request2.php';

       $url = 'http://www.example.com/meals/123';

       // The request body, in JSON

       $body = '[{

               "type": "appetizer",

               "dish": "Chicken Soup"

       }, {

               "type": "main course",

               "dish": "Fried Monkey Brains"

       }]';

       $r = new HTTP_Request2($url);

       $r->setMethod(HTTP_Request2::METHOD_PUT);

       $r->setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');

       $r->setBody($body);

       $page = $r->send()->getBody();

Discussion

In many REST-style APIs, you need to use more than just GET and POST to modify resources, you also need to use PUT and DELETE.

The examples in the Solution make HTTP PUT requests to set a dinner menu, with data formatted in JSON. If your data is in another format, such as XML, change the Content- Type accordingly. If there is no body, such as in a HTTP DELETE request, only set the method.

The PUT method is often used for creating or modifying the contents of a specific resource. cURL has three special options to help with this: CURLOPT_PUT, CURLOPT_IN FILE, and CURLOPT_INFILESIZE. To upload a file with PUT and cURL, set CURLOPT_PUT to true, CURLOPT_INFILE to a filehandle opened to the file that should be uploaded, and CURLOPT_INFILESIZE to the size of that file. 

Example  Uploading a file with cURL and PUT

       $url = 'http://www.example.com/upload.php';

       $filename = '/usr/local/data/pictures/piggy.jpg';

       $fp = fopen($filename,'r');

       $c = curl_init($url);

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_PUT, true);

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_INFILE, $fp);

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_INFILESIZE, filesize($filename));

       curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

       $page = curl_exec($c);

       print $page;

       curl_close($c);