Sending data through header method PHP

Question

I have what seems to me as a bit of an odd scenario, well maybe not so odd, but i've never had to do it before.

Anyway, i have a payment system that uses Moneybookers (or Skrill) to take a payment, this system sends database to a file on my server where i check the data, and then update records on my databases accordingly.

But recently i have integrated system called iDevAffiliate, this system tracks affiliate payments and in order to itegrate it full, when Moneybooker sends up data and our records are update we need to give a signal to the iDevAffiliate system to say that a payment has been made and is affiliated with an affiliate record.

Now to do this i thought it would be a simple:

header("location: http://www.mysite.com/affiliate/sale.php?profile=72198&idev_saleamt=2500&affiliate_id=$aff_id");

But i wasn't sure if i had to do it another way like this:

header("location: http://www.mysite.com/affiliate/sale.php?profile=72198&idev_saleamt=2500&affiliate_id=" . $aff_id);

But they both does seem to work. However, if i put that link into my browser replace the $aff_id with the actual affiliates id it sets everything properly, is the header mthod not the right thing to use? how else could i do this?

There's no difference between $x = 'a' . $b and $x = "a$b". Both produce the same string in the end. the header() call doesn't see a string concatenation operation, nor will it see $aff_id. It just gets the string produced by both operations. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 12:35
@MarcB They have the same effect, but there is a big difference. Double-quoted strings have to be parsed, which takes time; single-quoted strings do not. — kitti
– kitti, Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 12:39
@ryanP: If your operation is running enough PHP that the parsing overhead of a string is killing performance, then perhaps you shouldn't be using PHP in the first place. I'll see your extra few microseconds and raise you $0.00000000001. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 12:43

Lucio Paoletti · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-03 13:33:27Z

2

I'm not sure, if the problem is call the script with the correct parameters, you can use a cURL with post data, an example

    $ch     = curl_init();      
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,         "http://www.mysite.com/affiliate/sale.php");
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, "profile=72198&idev_saleamt=2500&affiliate_id=$aff_id");
    $ret = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);

on $ret variable you have the response on html of sale.php

answered Apr 3, 2012 at 13:33

Lucio Paoletti

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Churk · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-03 12:36:54Z

1

In PHP, if you use single quote, then you need to concat your variables such as

   $abc = 'abc' . $p;

if you are using double quote, You can embed the variable within the string

   $abc = "abc$p";

and $p will be evulated.

example: $p = 'd'; echo 'abc$p' will print out abc$p while echo "abc$p" will print out abcd

answered Apr 3, 2012 at 12:36

Churk

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Travesty3 · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-03 12:40:58Z

1

The two examples you gave are equivalent. I would suggest to verify the contents of $aff_id if you are having trouble.

Also, when using PHP's header function to redirect, make sure you also die to prevent further script execution. The header function itself does not cause the redirect. It just sends a header to your browser, which then interprets that and redirects. So the PHP script will continue to execute until the browser interprets the header and disconnects from the PHP script.

answered Apr 3, 2012 at 12:40

Travesty3

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2 Comments

ragebunny Over a year ago

Well its not being executed through a browser, its all automated, When money bookers has a payment for user they post the details to out servers, then we need to automatically send the data to the affiliate software.

Travesty3 Over a year ago

Well whatever is calling the script is what receives the HTTP header produced by the PHP script. The client is what causes the redirection, not the server. So in the time that it takes to send a header from the server (PHP script) to the client (browser or otherwise) and then a disconnect message back to the server, there could be more PHP code that has been executed. See here.

web-nomad · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-03 12:42:35Z

1

Take a look at CURL in PHP

or the stream functions

answered Apr 3, 2012 at 12:42

web-nomad

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