Convert XML UTF-16 to JSON UTF-8 with PHP cURL

Category: Personal Home Page
Hits: 21552
Previously titled
Fix PHP cURL: parser error: Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content

What?
This is an article with notes for me on how to convert some received XML encoded in UTF-16 to some JSON in UTF-8. If it were entirely in UTF-8, I would simply load the received XML with SimpleXML and use the built-in PHP JSON_encode function. I ran into the following errors:
Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct() [<a href='simplexmlelement.--construct'>simplexmlelement.--construct</a>]: Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [<a href='function.simplexml-load-string'>function.simplexml-load-string</a>]: Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###
Why?
So I've googled, binged and yahoo'd for this and although there are some solutions that deal with loading UTF16 content into SimpleXMLElement or simplexml_load_string, it doesn't solve my problem. I'm receiving XML data within a cURL result but I get the above error with using either "SimpleXMLElement" or "simplexml_load_string". Returning the XML with cURL isn't a problem, but I want to convert it to JSON and I usually use a PHP function to load the data into an XML array and use the built-in PHP function: "json_encode".

How?
So here's what I tried and ended up with:

If your XML is UTF-8
This is the basic code and will work to fetch some XML and return it in JSON formatting as long as the XML is encoded in UTF-8.
copyraw 
// set headers for JSON file
// header('Content-Type: application/json'); // seems to cause 500 Internal Server Error
header('Content-Type: text/javascript');
header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://api.joellipman.com/');
header('Access-Control-Max-Age: 3628800');
header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE');

// open connection
$ch = curl_init();

// set the cURL options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);                                // where to send the variables to
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: text/xml'));  // specify content type of what we're sending
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);                                    // hide header info !!SECURITY WARNING!!
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, TRUE);                                   // TRUE to do a regular HTTP POST.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $api_message_xml);                 // In my case, the XML form that will be submitted
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 15);                                  // Target API has a 15 second timeout
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);                         // TRUE to return the transfer as a string of the return value of curl_exec() instead of outputting it out directly.

// store the response
$ch_result = curl_exec($ch);

// close connection
curl_close($ch);

// convert the response to xml
$xml_result = simplexml_load_string($ch_result) or die("Error: Cannot create object");

// convert the xml to json
$json_result = json_encode($xml_result);

// print the json
echo $json_result;

// [OPTIONAL] convert it to an array
// $array = json_decode($json_result,TRUE);

// yields <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> ... ... ...
  1.  // set headers for JSON file 
  2.  // header('Content-Type: application/json'); // seems to cause 500 Internal Server Error 
  3.  header('Content-Type: text/javascript'); 
  4.  header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://api.joellipman.com/'); 
  5.  header('Access-Control-Max-Age: 3628800'); 
  6.  header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE'); 
  7.   
  8.  // open connection 
  9.  $ch = curl_init(); 
  10.   
  11.  // set the cURL options 
  12.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);                                // where to send the variables to 
  13.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: text/xml'));  // specify content type of what we're sending 
  14.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);                                    // hide header info !!SECURITY WARNING!! 
  15.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);                                   // TRUE to do a regular HTTP POST. 
  16.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $api_message_xml);                 // In my case, the XML form that will be submitted 
  17.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 15);                                  // Target API has a 15 second timeout 
  18.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);                         // TRUE to return the transfer as a string of the return value of curl_exec() instead of outputting it out directly. 
  19.   
  20.  // store the response 
  21.  $ch_result = curl_exec($ch); 
  22.   
  23.  // close connection 
  24.  curl_close($ch); 
  25.   
  26.  // convert the response to xml 
  27.  $xml_result = simplexml_load_string($ch_result) or die("Error: Cannot create object"); 
  28.   
  29.  // convert the xml to json 
  30.  $json_result = json_encode($xml_result); 
  31.   
  32.  // print the json 
  33.  echo $json_result; 
  34.   
  35.  // [OPTIONAL] convert it to an array 
  36.  // $array = json_decode($json_result,true); 
  37.   
  38.  // yields <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> ... ... ... 

Without cURL
You'll have seen this all over the Internet as the accepted solution... Doesn't work for me because I'm using cURL but it's a first point of reference. This will work if the received XML is a string.
copyraw 
// setting XML value
$string = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
  <Response Version="1.0">
    <DateTime>2/13/2013 10:37:24 PM
  1.  // setting XML value 
  2.  $string = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> 
  3.    <Response Version="1.0"> 
  4.      <DateTime>2/13/2013 10:37:24 PM 

With cURL: Other things I tried
ERROR: Using the above preg_replace function
copyraw 
/* Replace UTF-16 with UTF-8 */
$xml_utf8 = preg_replace('/(<\?xml[^?]+?)utf-16/i', '$1utf-8', $ch_result);

$xml_result = simplexml_load_string($xml_utf8);
// yields error 'Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###'
// to catch error use: $xml_result = simplexml_load_string($ch_result) or die("Error: Cannot create object");
  1.  /* Replace UTF-16 with UTF-8 */ 
  2.  $xml_utf8 = preg_replace('/(<\?xml[^?]+?)utf-16/i', '$1utf-8', $ch_result); 
  3.   
  4.  $xml_result = simplexml_load_string($xml_utf8); 
  5.  // yields error 'Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###' 
  6.  // to catch error use: $xml_result = simplexml_load_string($ch_result) or die("Error: Cannot create object"); 

ERROR: Using built-in function mb_convert_encoding
copyraw 
/* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8: Using function mb_convert_encoding */
$xml_utf8 = mb_convert_encoding($ch_result, 'UTF-8', 'UTF-16');

// yields error 'parser error : Start tag expected, '&lt;' not found in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###'
  1.  /* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8: Using function mb_convert_encoding */ 
  2.  $xml_utf8 = mb_convert_encoding($ch_result, 'UTF-8', 'UTF-16'); 
  3.   
  4.  // yields error 'parser error : Start tag expected, '&lt;' not found in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###' 

ERROR: Using built-in function utf8_encode
copyraw 
/* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */
$xml_utf8 = utf8_encode($ch_result);

// yields error 'Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###'
  1.  /* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */ 
  2.  $xml_utf8 = utf8_encode($ch_result); 
  3.   
  4.  // yields error 'Entity: line 1: parser error : Document labelled UTF-16 but has UTF-8 content in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###' 

ERROR: A potential function to re-encode it from Craig Lotter
copyraw 
/* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */
$xml_utf8 = utf16_to_utf8($ch_result);

// yields error 'parser error : Start tag expected, '&lt;' not found in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###'
// also yields: ??? 呭㤳䥆汶摓䉄套㑧唲噬䥅ㅬ䥑㴽
  1.  /* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */ 
  2.  $xml_utf8 = utf16_to_utf8($ch_result); 
  3.   
  4.  // yields error 'parser error : Start tag expected, '&lt;' not found in /public_html/.../.../my_script.php on line ###' 
  5.  // also yields: ??? '㤳䥆汶'"䉄--'"噬......'㴽 

ERRORS: A 2-Hour play around
copyraw 
/* Encode received cURL result in a JSON feed */
$json_encoded_str = json_encode($ch_result);

/* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */
$json_encoded_str_8 = (string) utf8_encode($json_encoded_str);

/* In the XML, replace the UTF-16 with UTF-8 */
$json_encoded_str = preg_replace('/(<\?xml[^?]+?)utf-16/i', '$1utf-8', $json_encoded_str_8);  

/* In the XML, replace the UTF-16 with UTF-8 */
$json_encoded = json_encode($json_encoded_str);

// yields escaped JSON: "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-16\"?><soap:Envelope
  1.  /* Encode received cURL result in a JSON feed */ 
  2.  $json_encoded_str = json_encode($ch_result); 
  3.   
  4.  /* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */ 
  5.  $json_encoded_str_8 = (string) utf8_encode($json_encoded_str); 
  6.   
  7.  /* In the XML, replace the UTF-16 with UTF-8 */ 
  8.  $json_encoded_str = preg_replace('/(<\?xml[^?]+?)utf-16/i', '$1utf-8', $json_encoded_str_8); 
  9.   
  10.  /* In the XML, replace the UTF-16 with UTF-8 */ 
  11.  $json_encoded = json_encode($json_encoded_str); 
  12.   
  13.  // yields escaped JSON: "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-16\"?><soap:Envelope 

ERROR: Using built-in function iconv. Another 4-hour saga
copyraw 
/* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */
$xml_utf8 = iconv('UTF-16', 'UTF-8', $ch_result);
// $xml_utf8 = iconv('UTF-16BE', 'UTF-8', $ch_result); // same result specifying Big-Endian

// yields error 'error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty'
// but view the source: 㼼浸敶獲潩㵮ㄢ〮•湥潣楤杮∽瑵ⵦ㘱㼢㰾潳灡䔺癮汥灯⁥浸湬㩳獸㵩栢瑴㩰⼯睷⹷㍷漮杲㈯

// OTHER ERRORS:
// error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty
// error on line 2 at column 1: Extra content at the end of the document
// error on line 2 at column 1: Encoding error

// error on line 1 at column 491: xmlParseEntityRef: no name
// this is because you need to escape the 5 characters (", ', <, >, &) in XML
  1.  /* Convert the UTF-16 to UTF-8 using a function */ 
  2.  $xml_utf8 = iconv('UTF-16', 'UTF-8', $ch_result); 
  3.  // $xml_utf8 = iconv('UTF-16BE', 'UTF-8', $ch_result); // same result specifying Big-Endian 
  4.   
  5.  // yields error 'error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty' 
  6.  // but view the source: 㼼浸敶獲潩㵮ㄢ〮•湥潣楤杮∽'ⵦ㘱㼢㰾潳灡"癮汥灯⁥浸湬㩳獸㵩栢'㩰⼯睷⹷㍷漮杲㈯ 
  7.   
  8.  // OTHER ERRORS: 
  9.  // error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty 
  10.  // error on line 2 at column 1: Extra content at the end of the document 
  11.  // error on line 2 at column 1: Encoding error 
  12.   
  13.  // error on line 1 at column 491: xmlParseEntityRef: no name 
  14.  // this is because you need to escape the 5 characters (", ', <, >, &) in XML 

NOT-QUITE-RIGHT: Use a Parser and re-Output the XML
copyraw 
// Create an XML parser
$parser = xml_parser_create();

// Stop returning elements in UPPERCASE
xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);

// Parse XML data into an array structure
xml_parse_into_struct($parser, str_replace(array("\n", "\r", "\t"), '', $ch_result), $structure);

// Free the XML parser
xml_parser_free($parser);

// create XML string from parsed XML
$xml_string = '';
$xml_escaped_chars = array('"', '\'', '<', '>', '&');
$xml_escaped_chars_rep = array('&quot;', '&apos;', '&lt;', '&gt;', '&amp;');

foreach($structure as $xml_element){

        $this_value = (isset($xml_element['value'])) ? str_replace($xml_escaped_chars, $xml_escaped_chars_rep, trim($xml_element['value'])) : '';
        $this_attr = (isset($xml_element['attributes'])) ? $xml_element['attributes'] : array();
        $this_attr_str = '';
        if (count($this_attr)>0){
                foreach($this_attr as $attr_key => $attr_value){
                        $this_attr_str.= ' '.$attr_key.'="'.$attr_value.'"';
                }
        }
        if ($xml_element['type']=='open'){
                $xml_string.='<'.$xml_element['tag'].$this_attr_str.'>';
        } else if ($xml_element['type']=='complete'){
                $xml_string.='<'.$xml_element['tag'].$this_attr_str.'>'.$this_value.'</'.$xml_element['tag'].'>';
        } else if ($xml_element['type']=='close'){
                $xml_string.='</'.$xml_element['tag'].'>';
        }
}
// $simple_xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);  // still fails (not UTF-8)
 echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'.utf8_encode($xml_string);

// yields <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> ... ... ... (corrupted?)
  1.  // Create an XML parser 
  2.  $parser = xml_parser_create(); 
  3.   
  4.  // Stop returning elements in UPPERCASE 
  5.  xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0); 
  6.   
  7.  // Parse XML data into an array structure 
  8.  xml_parse_into_struct($parser, str_replace(array("\n", "\r", "\t"), '', $ch_result), $structure); 
  9.   
  10.  // Free the XML parser 
  11.  xml_parser_free($parser); 
  12.   
  13.  // create XML string from parsed XML 
  14.  $xml_string = ''; 
  15.  $xml_escaped_chars = array('"', '\'', '<', '>', '&'); 
  16.  $xml_escaped_chars_rep = array('&quot;', '&apos;', '&lt;', '&gt;', '&amp;'); 
  17.   
  18.  foreach($structure as $xml_element){ 
  19.   
  20.          $this_value = (isset($xml_element['value'])) ? str_replace($xml_escaped_chars, $xml_escaped_chars_rep, trim($xml_element['value'])) : ''; 
  21.          $this_attr = (isset($xml_element['attributes'])) ? $xml_element['attributes'] : array(); 
  22.          $this_attr_str = ''; 
  23.          if (count($this_attr)>0){ 
  24.                  foreach($this_attr as $attr_key => $attr_value){ 
  25.                          $this_attr_str.= ' '.$attr_key.'="'.$attr_value.'"'; 
  26.                  } 
  27.          } 
  28.          if ($xml_element['type']=='open'){ 
  29.                  $xml_string.='<'.$xml_element['tag'].$this_attr_str.'>'; 
  30.          } else if ($xml_element['type']=='complete'){ 
  31.                  $xml_string.='<'.$xml_element['tag'].$this_attr_str.'>'.$this_value.'</'.$xml_element['tag'].'>'; 
  32.          } else if ($xml_element['type']=='close'){ 
  33.                  $xml_string.='</'.$xml_element['tag'].'>'; 
  34.          } 
  35.  } 
  36.  // $simple_xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);  // still fails (not UTF-8) 
  37.   echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'.utf8_encode($xml_string); 
  38.   
  39.  // yields <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> ... ... ... (corrupted?) 

So...

With cURL - a solution with a compromise
After many more hours, a solution to convert XML in UTF-16 from a cURL source and convert it to JSON. The output isn't necessarily in UTF-8 so I'll update this article if the mobile app has problems reading the JSON feed. When writing the loop of the "not-quite-right" solution above, I found the following function in a discussion thread: Integrating symphony website with external api [whmcs]
copyraw 
// set headers for JSON file
header('Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf8');
header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://api.joellipman.com/');
header('Access-Control-Max-Age: 3628800');
header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE');

// the function that will convert our XML to an array
function whmcsapi_xml_parser($rawxml) {
    $xml_parser = xml_parser_create();
    xml_parser_set_option($xml_parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);     // stop elements being converted to UPPERCASE
    xml_parse_into_struct($xml_parser, $rawxml, $vals, $index);
    xml_parser_free($xml_parser);
    $params = array();
    $level = array();
    $alreadyused = array();
    $x=0;
    foreach ($vals as $xml_elem) {
      if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'open') {
         if (in_array($xml_elem['tag'],$alreadyused)) {
            $x++;
            $xml_elem['tag'] = $xml_elem['tag'].$x;
         }
         $level[$xml_elem['level']] = $xml_elem['tag'];
         $alreadyused[] = $xml_elem['tag'];
      }
      if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'complete') {
       $start_level = 1;
       $php_stmt = '$params';
       while($start_level < $xml_elem['level']) {
         $php_stmt .= '[$level['.$start_level.']]';
         $start_level++;
       }
       $php_stmt .= '[$xml_elem[\'tag\']] = $xml_elem[\'value\'];';
       @eval($php_stmt);
      }
    }
    return($params);
}

// open connection
$ch = curl_init();

// set the cURL options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);                                // where to send the variables to
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: text/xml'));  // specify content type of what we're sending
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);                                    // hide header info !!SECURITY WARNING!!
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, TRUE);                                   // TRUE to do a regular HTTP POST.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $api_message_xml);                 // In my case, the XML form that will be submitted
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 15);                                  // Target API has a 15 second timeout
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);                         // TRUE to return the transfer as a string of the return value of curl_exec() instead of outputting it out directly.

// store the response
$ch_result = curl_exec($ch);

// close connection
curl_close($ch);

// parse XML with the whmcsapi_xml_parser function
$whmcsapi_arr = whmcsapi_xml_parser($ch_result); 

// Output returned value as Array
// print_r($whmcsapi_arr); 

// Encode in JSON
$json_whmcsapi = json_encode((array) $whmcsapi_arr);
echo $json_whmcsapi;
  1.  // set headers for JSON file 
  2.  header('Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf8'); 
  3.  header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://api.joellipman.com/'); 
  4.  header('Access-Control-Max-Age: 3628800'); 
  5.  header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE'); 
  6.   
  7.  // the function that will convert our XML to an array 
  8.  function whmcsapi_xml_parser($rawxml) { 
  9.      $xml_parser = xml_parser_create(); 
  10.      xml_parser_set_option($xml_parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);     // stop elements being converted to UPPERCASE 
  11.      xml_parse_into_struct($xml_parser, $rawxml, $vals, $index); 
  12.      xml_parser_free($xml_parser); 
  13.      $params = array(); 
  14.      $level = array(); 
  15.      $alreadyused = array(); 
  16.      $x=0; 
  17.      foreach ($vals as $xml_elem) { 
  18.        if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'open') { 
  19.           if (in_array($xml_elem['tag'],$alreadyused)) { 
  20.              $x++; 
  21.              $xml_elem['tag'] = $xml_elem['tag'].$x; 
  22.           } 
  23.           $level[$xml_elem['level']] = $xml_elem['tag']; 
  24.           $alreadyused[] = $xml_elem['tag']; 
  25.        } 
  26.        if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'complete') { 
  27.         $start_level = 1; 
  28.         $php_stmt = '&#36;params'; 
  29.         while($start_level < $xml_elem['level']) { 
  30.           $php_stmt .= '[&#36;level['.$start_level.']]'; 
  31.           $start_level++; 
  32.         } 
  33.         $php_stmt .= '[&#36;xml_elem[\'tag\']] = $xml_elem[\'value\'];'; 
  34.         @eval($php_stmt); 
  35.        } 
  36.      } 
  37.      return($params); 
  38.  } 
  39.   
  40.  // open connection 
  41.  $ch = curl_init(); 
  42.   
  43.  // set the cURL options 
  44.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);                                // where to send the variables to 
  45.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: text/xml'));  // specify content type of what we're sending 
  46.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);                                    // hide header info !!SECURITY WARNING!! 
  47.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);                                   // TRUE to do a regular HTTP POST. 
  48.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $api_message_xml);                 // In my case, the XML form that will be submitted 
  49.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 15);                                  // Target API has a 15 second timeout 
  50.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);                         // TRUE to return the transfer as a string of the return value of curl_exec() instead of outputting it out directly. 
  51.   
  52.  // store the response 
  53.  $ch_result = curl_exec($ch); 
  54.   
  55.  // close connection 
  56.  curl_close($ch); 
  57.   
  58.  // parse XML with the whmcsapi_xml_parser function 
  59.  $whmcsapi_arr = whmcsapi_xml_parser($ch_result); 
  60.   
  61.  // Output returned value as Array 
  62.  // print_r($whmcsapi_arr); 
  63.   
  64.  // Encode in JSON 
  65.  $json_whmcsapi = json_encode((array) $whmcsapi_arr); 
  66.  echo $json_whmcsapi; 

Off-Topic
But good snippet for cURL by David Walsh
copyraw 
// set POST variables
$url = 'http://domain.com/get-post.php';
$fields = array(
        'lname' => urlencode($last_name),
        'fname' => urlencode($first_name),
        'title' => urlencode($title),
        'company' => urlencode($institution),
        'age' => urlencode($age),
        'email' => urlencode($email),
        'phone' => urlencode($phone)
);
// url-ify the data for the POST
foreach($fields as $key=>$value) { $fields_string .= $key.'='.$value.'&'; }
rtrim($fields_string, '&');

// open connection
$ch = curl_init();

// set the url, number of POST vars, POST data
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POST, count($fields));
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $fields_string);

// execute post
$result = curl_exec($ch);

// close connection
curl_close($ch);
  1.  // set POST variables 
  2.  $url = 'http://domain.com/get-post.php'; 
  3.  $fields = array( 
  4.          'lname' => urlencode($last_name), 
  5.          'fname' => urlencode($first_name), 
  6.          'title' => urlencode($title), 
  7.          'company' => urlencode($institution), 
  8.          'age' => urlencode($age), 
  9.          'email' => urlencode($email), 
  10.          'phone' => urlencode($phone) 
  11.  ); 
  12.  // url-ify the data for the POST 
  13.  foreach($fields as $key=>$value) { $fields_string .= $key.'='.$value.'&'; } 
  14.  rtrim($fields_string, '&'); 
  15.   
  16.  // open connection 
  17.  $ch = curl_init(); 
  18.   
  19.  // set the url, number of POST vars, POST data 
  20.  curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL, $url); 
  21.  curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POST, count($fields)); 
  22.  curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $fields_string); 
  23.   
  24.  // execute post 
  25.  $result = curl_exec($ch); 
  26.   
  27.  // close connection 
  28.  curl_close($ch); 

Things I stumbled upon regarding SSL and cURL
Posted data for third-party apps is often required via SSL so this may come in handy
copyraw 
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);

// TRUE to output SSL certification information to STDERR on secure transfers.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CERTINFO, TRUE); 

curl_setopt($ch, CURL_SSLVERSION_SSLv3, TRUE);
  1.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0); 
  2.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0); 
  3.   
  4.  // TRUE to output SSL certification information to STDERR on secure transfers. 
  5.  curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CERTINFO, true); 
  6.   
  7.  curl_setopt($ch, CURL_SSLVERSION_SSLv3, true); 

Future Considerations
The data still hasn't been properly decoded from UTF-16 and encoded to UTF-8
  • Test writing to a file, re-encoding the file then reading from it.

Helpful Links Well this is my stop. It's being several hours that for others could have taken a several minutes if you knew where to look. My aim was to convert UTF-16 received XML to UTF-8 in order to convert XML to JSON and that has been achieved in part. It's 6am and I'm off to bed.

Category: Personal Home Page :: Article: 605

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Joel Lipman
www.joellipman.com

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