Unable to fread output of a remote php file - php

Question

I am using the output of a php file on a remote server, to show content on my own web-site. I do not have access to modify files on the remote server.
The remote php file outputs java script like this:
document.write('<p>some text</p>');
If I enter the url in a browser I get the correct output. E.g:
https://www.remote_server.com/files/the.php?param1=12
I can show the output of the remote file on my website like this:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.remote_server.com/files/the.php?param1=12"></script>
But I would like to filter the output a bit before showing it.
Therefore I implemented a php file with this code:
function getRemoteOutput(){
$file = fopen("https://www.remote_server.com/files/the.php?param1=12","r");
$output = fread($file,1024);
fclose($file);
return $output;
}
When I call this function fopen() returns a valid handle, but fread() returns an empty string.
I have tried using file_get_contents() instead, but get the same result.
Is what I am trying to do possible?
Is it possible for the remote server to allow me to read the file via the browser, but block access from a php file?

Answer 1

Your variable $output is only holding the 1st 1024 bytes of the url... (headers maybe?).
You will need to add a while not the "end of file" loop to concatenate the entire remote file.
PHP reference: feof
You can learn a lot more in the PHP description for the fread function.
PHP reference: fread.
<?php
echo getRemoteOutput();
function getRemoteOutput(){
$file = fopen("http://php.net/manual/en/function.fread.php","r");
$output = "";
while (!feof($file)){ // while not the End Of File
$output.= fread($file,1024); //reads 1024 bytes at a time and appends to the variable as a string.
}
return $output;
fclose($file);
}
?>
In regards to your questions:
Is what I am trying to do possible?
Yes this is possible.
Is it possible for the remote server to allow me to read the file via
the browser, but block access from a php file?
I doubt it.

Answer 2

I contacted the support team for the site I was trying to connect to. They told me that they do prevent access from php files.
So that seems to be the reason for my problems, and apparently I just cannot do what I tried to do.
For what it's worth, here is the code I used to test the various methods to read file output:
<?php
//$remotefile = 'http://www.xencomsoftware.net/configurator/tracker/ip.php';
$remotefile = "http://php.net/manual/en/function.fread.php";
function getList1(){
global $remotefile;
$output = file_get_contents($remotefile);
return htmlentities($output);
}
function getList2(){
global $remotefile;
$file = fopen($remotefile,"r");
$output = "";
while (!feof($file)){ // while not the End Of File
$output.= fread($file,1024); //reads 1024 bytes at a time and appends to the variable as a string.
}
fclose($file);
return htmlentities($output);
}
function getList3(){
global $remotefile;
$ch = curl_init(); // create curl resource
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $remotefile); // set url
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); //return the transfer as a string
$output = curl_exec($ch); // $output contains the output string
curl_close($ch); // close curl resource to free up system resources
return htmlentities($output);
}
function getList4(){
global $remotefile;
$r = new HttpRequest($remotefile, HttpRequest::METH_GET);
try {
$r->send();
if ($r->getResponseCode() == 200) {
$output = $r->getResponseBody();
}
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo 'Caught exception: ', $e->getMessage(), "\n";
}
return htmlentities($output);
}
function dumpList($ix, $list){
$len = strlen($list);
echo "<p><b>--- getList$ix() ---</b></p>";
echo "<div>Length: $len</div>";
for ($i = 0 ; $i < 10 ; $i++) {
echo "$i: $list[$i] <br>";
}
// echo "<p>$list</p>";
}
dumpList(1, getList1()); // doesn't work! You cannot include/requre a remote file.
dumpList(2, getList2());
dumpList(3, getList3());
dumpList(4, getList4());
?>