How to post a variable with a number for name - php

Question

I know this is bad form, but we can't change the hidden input name as it is set by SalesForce. I have a form with an input like this:
<input type="hidden" name="00N5000000XXXXX" value="Demo_Account" />
and my PHP to post to them via cURL
$00N5000000XXXXX = $_POST['00N5000000XXXXX'];
which obviously won't work as it has number for a variable name.
When I change the name to:
$Foo = $_POST['00N5000000XXXXX'];
the back end doesn't work because it is expecting the form to submit a value with a name of 00N5000000XXXXX, not Foo or whatever I want to call it.
Obviously, Im not a PHP developer but need some advice on how to get around this.
Thank you.

Answer 1

You don't have to save it to a variable first:
<?php
$transferPostFields = array(
'00N5000000XXXXX'
);
$postFields = array();
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
if (in_array($key, $transferPostFields)) {
$postFields[$key] = $value;
}
}
$curlHandle = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curlHandle, array(
CURLOPT_URL => 'http://api.salesforce.com/whatever/urls/they/use',
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => http_build_query($postFields)
));
$output = curl_exec($curlHandle);
echo 'The output we received from SalesForce was: ' . $output;
?>
If you want to transfer all post fields, simply change the top part (anything above $curlHandle = curl_init() to:
$postFields = $_POST;
If you don't need to go past your own server first, then simply change your form:
<form method="post" action="http://api.salesforce.com/whatever/urls/they/use">