Question

I’ve written a script that imports data from an xml file into the mysql database by selecting it from the source disk and uploading it via a button submital. But what if a 3rd party application were to be used to automate this import. Would it be proper to check if a get parameter of a xml path exist and grab its content and import the same way i did before? or is there a better method?

by get parameter i mean like this:

http://domain.com/import.php?path=externaldomain.com/xml/page.xml

Answer 1

it depends on what kind of data you are importing. If you import data from an rss feed, this method is fine. But if you are going to import personal data this might not really be a good method.

I would suggest something more secure if you are working with critical data that others are not supposed to see. You can start thinking of importing the xml files through ftp, download them from behind a server secured folder. Ask the 3rd party application to upload the xml files to a secure location of your choosing. Anything that goes on behind some kind of security is better then the suggested method for personal data.