sending queries to remote servers [closed] - php

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I am trying to create a php code that will provide all the information that we need in one place.
Some of the information that we need is on https://link
I am able to sending queries directly to it using a php form but the only trouble is it only works after someone has performed a manual search. Once someone has search for something then it works until the browser is closed.
Once a user closes the browser, then it start returning errors again.
try opening this link without doing a manual search. https://link
that would give an error, now open the first link https:// and then search for something.
now open this link again: https://searchType=singleQuery&phrase=exact&keywords=02284065
that should not give an error.
Came someone explain to me whats going on and how I can work around this?
Thanks.
edit:
I do not have access to the code on the remote server. on my end I am currently using
<?php
echo file_get_contents(searchType=singleQuery&phrase=exact&keywords=02284065");
?>
to test out. once I solve this problem then I would develop the code further.
edit: this is what I have so far, this returns the form but does not submit the form.
<?php
$url='https:/';
$keywords ='';
$ch = curl_init() ;
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, "$url" );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true );
$data = array(
'keywords' => "$keywords",
'Search' => 'submit'
);
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data );
$output = curl_exec( $ch );
curl_close( $ch );
echo "$output\n";
?>

Answer 1

It's quite likely that you're trying to use this service in an improper way. These days, many portals just accept queries (and POST requests, to be more precise) from a "whitelist" of clients. A client in this whitelist could be the website itself, or an authorized mobile app.
You should learn something about the Same Origin Policy, as a "basic" of what we're talking about.
Usually, it's up to the site owner deciding who will be able to query the server, and who will not.
Solution: You should contact the healthinfo.moh.gov.on.ca administrators and ask them if they have some APIs, in order to get your data in a more structured and correct way.
EDIT: probably you can do your search after a manual one on the website because of some session data. After that, the session expires and you can't continue.

Answer 2

Agree with Francesco - esp. about the misuse and contacting the provider - but would add, for educational purposes:
Try using a cURL request instead of file_get_contents.
php doc examples
A snippet I happen to be working with right now:
public function triggerMessage(Contact $tocontact, $msgid)
{
$msgurl = 'https://www.server.com/t/?' . $msgid;
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $msgurl);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, count(get_object_vars($tocontact)));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $this->contactToUrlParams($tocontact));
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
return $result;
}