POST XML to URL with PHP and Handle Response

Question

I\'ve seen numerous methods of POSTing data with PHP over the years, but I\'m curious what the suggested method is, assuming there is one. Or perhaps there is a somewhat uns

Answer 1

While the Snoopy script maybe cool, if you're looking to just post xml data with PHP, why not use cURL? It's easy, has error handling, and is a useful tool already in your bag. Below is an example of how to post XML to a URL with cURL in PHP.

// url you're posting to        
$url = "http://mycoolapi.com/service/";

// your data (post string)
$post_data = "first_var=1&second_var=2&third_var=3";

// create your curl handler     
$ch = curl_init($url);

// set your options     
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_MUTE, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0); //ssl stuff
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type:  application/x-www-form-urlencoded'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_data);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

// your return response
$output = curl_exec($ch); 

// close the curl handler
curl_close($ch);