PHP script receives GET instead of POST REQUEST - php

Question

I am using PHP with XAMPP and Dialogflow to create a chat interface. In a simple intent(question) in Dialogflow, I have created a webhook to XAMPP regarding the question 'Who is X' (e.g. Paul, George). Therefore , I place a POST REQUEST in order to have access to the json form of this question in DIalogflow so that I can answer it as I want to. Specifically, the ultimate goal of this is to retrieve some data from a MySQL database in phpMyAdmin about this question and respond for example that 'X is a developer' or 'X is a financial analyst'. This is why wrote a php script which is the following:
<?php
$method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'];
// Process when it is POST method
if ($method == 'POST') {
$requestBody = file_get_contents('php://input');
$json = json_decode($requestBody);
$text = $json->result->parameters;
switch($text) {
case 'given-name':
$name = $text->given-name;
$speech = $name . 'is a developer';
break;
default:
$speech = 'Sorry I did not get this. Can you repeat please?';
}
$response = new \stdClass();
$response->speech = "";
$response->displayText = "";
$respone->source = "webhook";
echo json_encode($response);
}
else
{
echo "Method not allowed";
}
?>
However, the output of this program is: Method not allowed.
Paradoxically enough $method has the value 'GET' so it identifies a GET REQUEST while Dialogflow explicitly states at the webhook page that
Your web service will receive a POST request from Dialogflow in the
form of the response to a user query matched by intents with webhook
enabled.
Hence I am wondering: why my php script cannot see and process the POST REQUEST from Dialogflow?
P.S. Questions close to mine are the following: Form sends GET instead of POST, Why is $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] always GET?.

Answer 1

It doesn't work because $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == "GET" by default.
So you program execute the 'else' condition.
You need to submit a request with the POST method to change this value.
You can use
<form method="POST">
[...]
</form>
in your HTML, or
$.ajax({
url : "ajax_url.php",
type : 'POST',
data : 'data='+data,
[...]
});
in your AJAX JS code for example

Answer 2

Here i am doing same like you from below code your Query will be resolved,
index.php
<?php
require 'get_enews.php';
function processMessage($input) {
$action = $input["result"]["action"];
switch($action){
case 'getNews':
$param = $input["result"]["parameters"]["number"];
getNews($param);
break;
default :
sendMessage(array(
"source" => "RMC",
"speech" => "I am not able to understand. what do you want ?",
"displayText" => "I am not able to understand. what do you want ?",
"contextOut" => array()
));
}
}
function sendMessage($parameters) {
header('Content-Type: application/json');
$data = str_replace('\/','/',json_encode($parameters));
echo $data;
}
$input = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);
if (isset($input["result"]["action"])) {
processMessage($input);
}
?>
get_enews.php
<?php
function getNews($param){
require 'config.php';
$getNews="";
$Query="SELECT link FROM public.news WHERE year='$param'";
$Result=pg_query($con,$Query);
if(isset($Result) && !empty($Result) && pg_num_rows($Result) > 0){
$row=pg_fetch_assoc($Result);
$getNews= "Here is details that you require - Link: " . $row["link"];
$arr=array(
"source" => "RMC",
"speech" => $getNews,
"displayText" => $getNews,
);
sendMessage($arr);
}else{
$arr=array(
"source" => "RMC",
"speech" => "No year matched in database.",
"displayText" => "No year matched in database.",
);
sendMessage($arr);
}
}
?>
php://input is a read-only stream that allows you to read raw data from the request body. In the case of POST requests, it is preferable to use php://input