Convert URL encoded to JSON object - php

Question

I've never worked with JSON objects before but I think this is probably the best route for what I'm trying to achieve (if you think there is a better option please let me know, though I cannot use SOAP)
I am trying to submit some data via POST to an API in order to add some data to a newsletter list which is stored as XML. Here is the documentation for the request I am trying to complete: https://api.dotmailer.com/v2/help/wadl#PostAddressBookContacts
When visiting the API url and authenticating I see data laid out in the following:
<ArrayOfApiContact xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://apiconnector.com">
<ApiContact>
<Id>1058905201</Id>
<Email>email#email.co.uk</Email>
<OptInType>Unknown</OptInType>
<EmailType>Html</EmailType>
<DataFields i:nil="true"/>
<Status>Subscribed</Status>
</ApiContact>
</ArrayOfApiContact>
So I have attempted to replicate as such, using a variable instead of a hardcoded email:
$xml = array(
'id' => urlencode('123456789'),
'email' => urlencode($useremail),
'optInType' => urlencode('Unknown'),
'emailType' => urlencode('Html'),
'dataFields' => urlencode(':null'),
'status' => urlencode('Subscribed')
);
I am combining the array here:
foreach($xml as $key=>$value) { $xml_string .= $key.'='.$value.'&'; }
And then using cURL to POST the request to the API, with my authentication (apipassword and apiemail which the username)
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$auth_url);
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POST, count($xml));
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $xml_string);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "$apiemail:$apipassword");
$status_code = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE); //get status code
$result = curl_exec ($ch);
curl_close ($ch);
I have already tested this without the POST and I do indeed get the data back in this form:
[{"id":1058905201,"email":"email#email.co.uk","optInType":"Unknown","emailType":"Html","dataFields":null,"status":"Subscribed"}]
So I know the auth is working and the data is coming back correctly, but now when I try to POST my data I get:
{"message":"Content type \"application/x-www-form-urlencoded\" is not supported. Please use one of: application/json,application/xml ERROR_CONTENT_TYPE_IS_NOT_SUPPORTED"}
So how do I convert my array which is URL encoded into something readable by the API?

Answer 1

Try a content type of application/json like so:
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('content-type: application/json'));

Answer 2

Two things here (a) content-type header JSON missing and (b) payload not JSON.
// setup request to send json via POST.
$payload = json_encode(array("json"=> $data)); // or json_encode(array($data));
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload );
// set proper content-type for sending JSON
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type:application/json'));