Question

Im not really sure what im looking for but currently in my system i send a long url like this:

$name=1&option=2&field=4....

And its quite long. So if i have a list of values like:

• name
• option
• field

can i put them into a string in which i can break at certain points eg by a slash or whatever.

And then encode the string so its completely random like, so i only have one field to send:

&data=JKHFGDKGLKJHFKDJHFKJDHFKHDF

Then finally i can decode the other side and break apart.

Is there a pre-built function to do this?

WHAT IT IS:

im sending data to paypal, but i have a few custom variables i wish to send, now for some reason my IPN isnt geting them, not sure why, but if i add one called custom it get to the IPN fine. So i thought if i just send one called custom in a random format and then decode?

Answer 1

You could simply Base64-encode your data.

$a = array('name' => '1', 'option' => '2', 'field' => '4');
$temp = json_encode($a);       // convert array to string
$data = base64_encode($temp);  // encode string

output:

"eyJuYW1lIjoiMSIsIm9wdGlvbiI6IjIiLCJmaWVsZCI6IjQifQ=="

To send this in an URL, you must encode it once more (like you must encode all data you would send in a URL)

$url = $url . "&data=" . urlencode($data)

The intermediary step through JSON ensures your data will kep its structure and will be easily decodeable on the receiving side.

On the downside: Your URL will be longer.