help with Http POST data

[Bint]

Hello,
I'm new to web programming, and I've been looking all day on the web for
an answer to this question.

I'm trying to send some binary data, a relatively large amount (~128K), to a
PHP script from a wireless device that has TCP/IP sockets. So I'm sending
all of my data manually (ie ,"POST http://www.blah.com/process.php
HTTP/1.0\n").

I am able to send regular form data such as
"tireqty=3&oilqty=4&sparkqty=1&address=4204MainStr eet\n\n";
To do this I have a header for the content type like so: "Content-Type:
application/x-www-form-urlencoded\n";"

I have even encoded my data in base64 so that it is ready to send as ASCII.
This data is broken into chunks where after each 76 characters there is a
\r\n line break. I read that I needed to do that.

But HOW do I send it? If I send it as form data, with variables, then it
only receives the data up until the first line break. I tried changing the
content type to "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\n", thinking that I
could just send the data without form variables, but then how do you access
that from PHP? For example I tried sending the string "data=XXXYYY" where
XXXYYY is my base64 encoded data, but it didn't work.

I can't seem to find any good documentation about this. Which Content-Type
shouldI be using? Can I use octet-streams and still have the data connected
to php variables? It's very confusing.

Thanks for any pointers.

B

[Arnold Shore]

I send the stuff as form data all the time (although not that volume/size).
No chunking, no content-type. Yr base64 encoding makes it an ascii
transmission.

Use "extract ($HTTP_POST_VARS)" at the top of yr php receiver script to get
at what was the form vars. Really simple. Try it with a small volume to see
if the size breaks the logic, which I don't think it will for POST data.
HTH.

AS
"Bint" <Bi**@igm.com> wrote in message
news:6%***************@tornado.texas.rr.com...

Hello,
I'm new to web programming, and I've been looking all day on the web
for an answer to this question.

I'm trying to send some binary data, a relatively large amount (~128K), to
a PHP script from a wireless device that has TCP/IP sockets. So I'm
sending all of my data manually (ie ,"POST http://www.blah.com/process.php
HTTP/1.0\n").

I am able to send regular form data such as
"tireqty=3&oilqty=4&sparkqty=1&address=4204MainStr eet\n\n";
To do this I have a header for the content type like so: "Content-Type:
application/x-www-form-urlencoded\n";"

I have even encoded my data in base64 ...

[Janwillem Borleffs]

Bint wrote:

I'm trying to send some binary data, a relatively large amount
(~128K), to a PHP script from a wireless device that has TCP/IP
sockets. So I'm sending all of my data manually (ie ,"POST
http://www.blah.com/process.php HTTP/1.0\n").

A basic example can be viewed here:

http://playground.jwscripts.com/postdata.phps
HTH;
JW

[Manuel Lemos]

Hello,

on 03/18/2006 09:56 PM Bint said the following:

I have even encoded my data in base64 so that it is ready to send as ASCII.
This data is broken into chunks where after each 76 characters there is a
\r\n line break. I read that I needed to do that.
No, that is not the way to post binary files.

But HOW do I send it? If I send it as form data, with variables, then it
only receives the data up until the first line break. I tried changing the
content type to "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\n", thinking that I
could just send the data without form variables, but then how do you access
that from PHP? For example I tried sending the string "data=XXXYYY" where
XXXYYY is my base64 encoded data, but it didn't work.

I can't seem to find any good documentation about this. Which Content-Type
shouldI be using? Can I use octet-streams and still have the data connected
to php variables? It's very confusing.

You need to post it like normal forms with file fields. It must be sent
with multipart/form-data content type and then you need to compose a
multipart form body.

You may also want to take a look at this http client class that can post
files this way transparently:

http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient
--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

[Bint]

What I have is not a file, it is just an array of binary data. The device
doesn't have a file system. I need to be able to send the binary data
without it being in a file.

Bint
"Manuel Lemos" <ml****@acm.org> wrote in message
news:44**************@acm.org...

Hello,

on 03/18/2006 09:56 PM Bint said the following:

I have even encoded my data in base64 so that it is ready to send as
ASCII.
This data is broken into chunks where after each 76 characters there is a
\r\n line break. I read that I needed to do that.

No, that is not the way to post binary files.

But HOW do I send it? If I send it as form data, with variables, then it
only receives the data up until the first line break. I tried changing
the
content type to "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\n", thinking that
I
could just send the data without form variables, but then how do you
access
that from PHP? For example I tried sending the string "data=XXXYYY"
where
XXXYYY is my base64 encoded data, but it didn't work.

I can't seem to find any good documentation about this. Which
Content-Type
shouldI be using? Can I use octet-streams and still have the data
connected
to php variables? It's very confusing.

You need to post it like normal forms with file fields. It must be sent
with multipart/form-data content type and then you need to compose a
multipart form body.

You may also want to take a look at this http client class that can post
files this way transparently:

http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient
--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

[Manuel Lemos]

Hello,

on 03/19/2006 08:41 PM Bint said the following:

What I have is not a file, it is just an array of binary data. The device doesn't have a file system. I need to be able to send the binary data
without it being in a file.
It doesn't matter. What matters is that for you to send the data you can
emulate the submission of a form with a file field. Don't worry, the
class takes care of that for you.

Just take a look at the test_http_post.php example and see the PostFiles
array . It has one element like this:

"userfile"=>array(
"Data"=>$your_binary_data_string,
"Name"=>"invent_a_file_name",
"Content-Type"=>"automatic/name",
),
"Manuel Lemos" <ml****@acm.org> wrote in message
news:44**************@acm.org...

Hello,

on 03/18/2006 09:56 PM Bint said the following:

I have even encoded my data in base64 so that it is ready to send as
ASCII.
This data is broken into chunks where after each 76 characters there is a \r\n line break. I read that I needed to do that.

No, that is not the way to post binary files.

But HOW do I send it? If I send it as form data, with variables, then it only receives the data up until the first line break. I tried changing
the
content type to "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\n", thinking that I
could just send the data without form variables, but then how do you
access
that from PHP? For example I tried sending the string "data=XXXYYY"
where
XXXYYY is my base64 encoded data, but it didn't work.

I can't seem to find any good documentation about this. Which
Content-Type
shouldI be using? Can I use octet-streams and still have the data
connected
to php variables? It's very confusing.

You need to post it like normal forms with file fields. It must be sent
with multipart/form-data content type and then you need to compose a
multipart form body.

You may also want to take a look at this http client class that can post
files this way transparently:

http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/