Question

I really hope someone can help me along with this one…

I need to do an xml POST to RESTful API using php, but I have absolutely no clue where to start.

I can build the xml, but how do I post the it? I cant use cURL library.

Answer 1

You can use file_get_contents(). allow_url_fopen must be set on php.ini.

$context = stream_context_create(array('http'=>array(
    'method' => 'POST'
    'content' => $myXMLBody
)));
$returnData = file_get_contents('http://example.com/restfulapi', false, $context);

This is possible because PHP abstracts stream manipulation with his own wrappers. Setting a context to stream manipulation functions (like file_get_contents()) allows you to configure how PHP handles it.

There are more parameters than just method and content. You can set request headers, proxies, handle timeouts and everything. Please refer to the manual.