CURL / screen scrape delivery tracking details from Canada Post - php

Question

I need to obtain delivery tracking details from the Canada Post website, which does not offer an API.
I've formulated a URL that when entered into a browser correctly returns the tracking information, but I can't get the request to function with CURL (it returns a 500 We're Sorry page).
class cURL {
var $headers;
var $user_agent;
var $compression;
var $cookie_file;
var $proxy;
function cURL($cookies=TRUE,$cookie='cookies.txt',$compression='gzip',$proxy='') {
$this->headers[] = 'Accept: image/gif, image/x-bitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg';
$this->headers[] = 'Connection: Keep-Alive';
$this->headers[] = 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8';
$this->user_agent = 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0)';
$this->compression=$compression;
$this->proxy=$proxy;
$this->cookies=$cookies;
if ($this->cookies == TRUE) $this->cookie($cookie);
}
function cookie($cookie_file) {
if (file_exists($cookie_file)) {
$this->cookie_file=$cookie_file;
} else {
fopen($cookie_file,'w') or $this->error('The cookie file could not be opened. Make sure this directory has the correct permissions');
$this->cookie_file=$cookie_file;
fclose($this->cookie_file);
}
}
function get($url) {
$process = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $this->headers);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $this->user_agent);
if ($this->cookies == TRUE) curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $this->cookie_file);
if ($this->cookies == TRUE) curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $this->cookie_file);
curl_setopt($process,CURLOPT_ENCODING , $this->compression);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
if ($this->proxy) curl_setopt($cUrl, CURLOPT_PROXY, 'proxy_ip:proxy_port');
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
$return = curl_exec($process);
curl_close($process);
return $return;
}
function post($url,$data) {
$process = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $this->headers);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $this->user_agent);
if ($this->cookies == TRUE) curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $this->cookie_file);
if ($this->cookies == TRUE) curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $this->cookie_file);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_ENCODING , $this->compression);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
if ($this->proxy) curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_PROXY, $this->proxy);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
$return = curl_exec($process);
curl_close($process);
return $return;
}
function error($error) {
echo "cURL Error$error";
die;
}
}
$cc = new cURL();
$test = $cc->get('http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/track/personal/findByTrackNumber?trackingNumber=x0x0x0x0x0x0x0&trackingType=trackPersonal');
echo $test;
[UPDATE] after removing the Accept header line as per Tim's reply, I now get a page with the following 'You are currently visiting our Basic Site. This site is used for low-bandwidth connections, mobile devices and alternative browsers.' - but, again, no tracking information.

Answer 1

I believe the problem is with this line:
$this->headers[] = 'Accept: image/gif, image/x-bitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg';
Add text/html and you should be good. Or just drop that header.

Answer 2

I used Snoopy for screen scrapes.
Totally recommended.
UPDATE:
I could fetch that content using Snoopy (but I needed to modify a simple line: 809)
Here is my code:
<?php
include('Snoopy.class.php');
$http = new Snoopy();
$http->fetch('http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/track/personal/findByTrackNumber?trackingNumber=x0x0x0x0x0x0x0&trackingType=trackPersonal');
echo $http->results;
?>
You need to download Snoopy library and modify the line 809:
$cookie_headers .= $cookieKey."=".urlencode($cookieVal)."; ";
with:
$cookie_headers .= $cookieKey."=".$cookieVal."; ";
And voilà!

Answer 3

How old is this thread? Canadapost certainly does offer an API.
http://sellonline.canadapost.ca/DevelopersResources/