Question

I have a PHP script that runs in the background to post any pictures to their social networking sites or email it out. All the data is stored in the database and it does get called to run like this:

$user_id = "77";
exec("/usr/bin/php5 upload_auto.php?user_id=$user_id");

And here’s what the posting code looks like:

<?php
$the_picture_id_to_check = $_GET['user_id'];
mysql_connect("localhost","********", "********") or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db(myflashp_pictures) or die (mysql_error());
require_once('connect/twitter_files/twitteroauth/twitteroauth.php');
require_once('connect/twitter_files/config.php');

?>

<!--- Upload Tumblr --->

<?php
$result_tumblr = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM upload_tumblr WHERE user_id=$the_picture_id_to_check"); 
$num_rows_find = mysql_num_rows($result_tumblr);
while($row_tumblr=mysql_fetch_array($result_tumblr)){

// Get Username
$the_id = "".$row_tumblr['id']."";
$picture_id = "".$row_tumblr['picture_id']."";
$picture_url = "".$row_tumblr['picture_url']."";
$user_id = "".$row_tumblr['user_id']."";
$caption = "".$row_tumblr['caption']."";
$album_id = "".$row_tumblr['album_id']."";

// Authorization info
$monday_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM photo_albums WHERE id='$album_id'");
$monday_query_row=mysql_fetch_array($monday_result);
$tumblr_id = $monday_query_row['tumblr_id']; 

$monday_result2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM connections_tumblr WHERE id='$tumblr_id'");
$monday_query_row2 = mysql_fetch_array($monday_result2);
$tumblr_email = $monday_query_row2['email']; 
$tumblr_password = $monday_query_row2['password']; 

// Prepare POST request
$request_data = http_build_query(
array(
    'email'             => $tumblr_email,
    'password'          => $tumblr_password,
    'type'              => 'photo',
    'source'            => $picture_url,
    'caption'           => $caption,
    'generator'         => 'FlashPics iPhone App'
)
);

// Send the POST request (with cURL)
$c = curl_init('http://www.tumblr.com/api/write');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $request_data);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$result = curl_exec($c);
$status = curl_getinfo($c, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($c);

// Check for success
if ($status == 201) {
mysql_query("UPDATE pictures SET tumblr_id='$result' WHERE id='$picture_id'");
echo "Success! The new Tumblr post ID is $result.<br>\n";
mysql_query("DELETE FROM upload_tumblr WHERE id='$the_id'");
} else if ($status == 403) {
echo 'Bad email or password for Tumblr.';
} else if ($status == 400) {
echo "Error ($status): $result\n";
mysql_query("DELETE FROM upload_tumblr WHERE id='$the_id'");
} else {
echo "Error ($status): $result\n";
}

}

if ($num_rows_find == 0) {
echo "There's nothing to post to Tumblr.";
}

?>

<br /><br />



<!--- Upload Email --->

<?php

include_once('class.phpmailer.php');

$result_email = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM upload_email WHERE status='processing' AND user_id='$the_picture_id_to_check'"); 
$num_rows_find = mysql_num_rows($result_email);
mysql_query("UPDATE upload_email SET status='$num_rows_find' WHERE id='1'");
while($row_email=mysql_fetch_array($result_email)){

// Get Username
$to = "".$row_email['email']."";


$get_info_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id='".$row_email['user_id']."'");
$get_info_query_row = mysql_fetch_array($get_info_result);
$get_username = $get_info_query_row['username'];
$get_first_name = $get_info_query_row['first_name'];
$get_last_name = $get_info_query_row['last_name']; 

$get_info_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM pictures WHERE id='".$row_email['picture_id']."'");
$get_info_query_row = mysql_fetch_array($get_info_result);
$get_caption = $get_info_query_row['caption'];
$get_picture_url = $get_info_query_row['long_url'];
$get_short_string = $get_info_query_row['short_string'];

if ($get_caption == "") {
$get_caption = "I have shared a FlashPic with you.";
}


$mail             = new PHPMailer();
$mail->From       = "[e-mail]";
$mail->FromName   = "FlashPics";
$mail->Subject    = "$get_first_name $get_last_name has shared a FlashPic with you.";

$mail->IsHTML(true);
$mail->Body = "
<html><body style='margin: 0px; padding: 0px;'>
<div style='padding: 15px; width: 480px; font-family: Helvetica; margin: 10px; border: 1px solid #d7d7d7;'>
<div style='font-weight: bolder; font-size: 32px; margin: 8px 0px 20px 0px;'><font color='#353535'>Flash</font><font color='#f8bc49'>Pics</font></div>

<div style='font-size: 20px; color: #353535; font-weight: normal; text-transform: lowercase;'>$get_username</div>

<div style='margin-top: 15px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;'>$get_caption<br>
<br>
<img src=$get_picture_url width='480'>
<br><br>
<a href='http://myflashpics.com/picture/$get_short_string' style='color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;'>view full size image</a><br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
The FlashPics Team</div>

</div>
</body></html>";

$mail->AltBody    = "$get_username
$get_caption

http://myflashpics.com/picture/".$row_email['picture_id']."

Yours Truly,
The FlashPics Team";


$the_id = "".$row_email['id']."";

$pieces = explode(", ", "$to");

$one = $pieces['0'];
$two = $pieces['1']; 
$three = $pieces['2']; 
$four = $pieces['3']; 
$five = $pieces['4']; 

if ($one != "") {
$mail->AddBCC("$one");
}
if ($two != "") {
$mail->AddBCC("$two");
}
if ($three != "") {
$mail->AddBCC("$three");
}
if ($four != "") {
$mail->AddBCC("$four");
}
if ($five != "") {
$mail->AddBCC("$five");
}

if(!$mail->Send()) {
echo "Failed sending email to <b> $one, $two, $three, $four, $five</b>." . $mail->ErrorInfo;
mysql_query("UPDATE upload_email SET status='error' WHERE id='$the_id'");
} else {
echo "Sent email to <b> ".$row_email['email']."</b> successfully.<br>";
mysql_query("UPDATE upload_email SET status='sent' WHERE id='$the_id'");
}

}

if ($num_rows_find == 0) {
echo "There are no pictures to email out.";
}

?>

My problem is that I can run it from the browser no problem, however if run it via PHP exec, nothing happens. Another wierd part is that some actions are working (such as Facebook and twitter).

Thanks in advance,
Coulton

Answer 1

Try using CURL instead:

exec("curl http://www.mydomain.com/upload_auto.php?user_id=$user_id");

I’ve found that running PHP from the command line sometimes brings unexpected results. CURL will run it like a browser would.