PHP Variables not passing to url correctly from API - php

Question

I'm trying to use the Premium URL Shortener script from codecanyon, I have asked for support but they seem to be a little busy, so the response time is not to quick.
The issue I have is when the API sends the request to the url shortener script with the following shortened query for example purposes:
$short = "http://myurl/api?api=MYAPI&format=text&url=http://myfullwebsite.com/email/quote.php?fullname=$fullname&address=$address&emailaddress=$emailaddress";
Although the variables are being placed in the script correctly using echo function at the end of the script after the api request is sent shows they are correctly inserted like so:
http://myurl/api?api=MYAPI&format=text&url=http://myfullwebsite.com/email/quote.php?fullname=Dan Smith&address=12 Main Street, London&emailaddress=dan#smith.com
However if I click the shortened url provided to me from the script I only get the following url string appear in the browser:
http://myfullwebsite.com/email/quote.php?fullname=Dan
It seems as soon as there is a space or even if there is no second name such as Dan Smith and only Dan is the available name, it will not even apply the second ampersand or & sign.
I have tried to use urlecode() but still no joy and I've been pulling my hair out for the last 3 days!
As a novice beginner it has been somewhat difficult to try and achieve the end result and it seems unreachable so I would appreciate any kind help or advice if possible, Maybe I'm missing something so simple?
I've thought of having the url query build from an array of variables but as a novice I've tried one way and failed so not sure if I have done it wrong.
Here is my full api code where I have tried both with SESSION and GET but that is not the problem as the end result echos to the browser with the variables there.. it's only when you follow the shortened url link that you see they're missing.
<?php
session_start();
$fullname = htmlspecialchars($_GET["fullname"]);
$address = htmlspecialchars($_GET["address"]);
$postcode = htmlspecialchars($_GET["postcode"]);
$emailaddress = htmlspecialchars($_GET["emailaddress"]);
$short = "http://myurl/api?api=MYAPI&format=text&url=http://ukhomesurveys.co.uk/email/quote.php?fullname=$fullname&address=$address&emailaddress=$emailaddress";
echo $short;
// Using Plain Text Response
$api_url = $short;
$res= #file_get_contents($api_url);
if($res){
echo $res;
}
?>
Hope I covered everything and hope I have not confused anyone. Thanks.

Answer 1

I think the good choice here is to encode your query with base64 and then pass it to the shortener. In your http://myfullwebsite.com/email/quote.php you just decode the query and use it. The standart PHP functions are base64_encode and base64_decode.

Answer 2

Did you try to encode URI using rawurlencode?
$url = rawurlencode('http://myfullwebsite.com/email/quote.php?fullname=Dan Smith&address=12 Main Street, London&emailaddress=dan#smith.com');