POSTing to my own scripts

[Steven Stern]

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

2. Is there a better way?

[Ian.H]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:42:31 GMT, Steven Stern
<sd***************@NOSPAMHEREmindspring.com> wrote:

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

2. Is there a better way?

If you can't use an external browser (Lynx for example) I'd probably
personally use the LWP::Simple module in a small Perl script and exec
that from a cronjob. I have a few that do GET for updating scripts, but
could easily be done for POST data (including using cookies if required
etc etc).

I don't use PHP for "system" based scripting.. so haven't looked into
this for PHP.

Regards,

Ian

--
Ian.H
digiServ Network
London, UK
http://digiserv.net/

[Andy Hassall]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:42:31 GMT, Steven Stern
<sd***************@NOSPAMHEREmindspring.com> wrote:

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

2. Is there a better way?

If you want automated posting, then Perl's WWW::Mechanize module is excellent,
or the LWP module for a lower-level approach.

For a PHP solution, then I think there's cURL: http://uk.php.net/curl but I've
never used it.

--
Andy Hassall / <an**@andyh.co.uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk>
<http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage analysis tool

[Manuel Lemos]

Hello,

On 09/15/2004 10:42 AM, Steven Stern wrote:

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

This class does exactly what you ask, it submits forms with POST,
including submitting large files if necessary, it can collect cookies
and redirection if you need to emulate a login session.

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

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

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

PHP Reviews - Reviews of PHP books and other products
http://www.phpclasses.org/reviews/

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

[Steven Stern]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:42:08 -0300 (more or less), Manuel Lemos
<ml****@acm.org> wrote:

Hello,
This class does exactly what you ask, it submits forms with POST,
including submitting large files if necessary, it can collect cookies
and redirection if you need to emulate a login session.

http://www.phpclasses.org/httpclient

THANKS

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Steven Stern <sd***************@NOSPAMHEREmindspring.com> wrote in message news:<af********************************@4ax.com>. ..

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?
http://in2.php.net/fsockopen
2. Is there a better way?

http://in.php.net/curl

--
| Just another PHP saint |
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com

[David Risner]

Steven Stern wrote:

I've got some scripts that back-end multiple HTML forms, accepting data via
POST. What I'd like to do is have some automated processing take place via
cron, using those same scripts to do the back-end processing. I'm looking for
a way to invoke those scripts from a script *not* executed via a browser
session.

I've found one way via streams (http://www.php.net/stream), by creating a
pretend browser session.

1. Is there an easy-to-use class that encapsulates this? That is, something
that I pass an array of field names and values along with the target URL?

2. Is there a better way?

You should look at the curl module. It nicely encapsulates this.

--
David G. Risner
Software Engineer, California State University, Los Angeles
http://www.risner.org/david/