php: equivalent of $_FILES upload? - php

Question

I have to send a file to an API. The API documentation provides an example of how to do this through a file upload script ($_FILES). But, I have the files on the same machine, so would like to skip this step and just read in the file directly to save time.
How can I read in the file (a video) so that it will work with this code snippet?
I understand that FILES is an array, but I could set the other parts of it (the filename) seperately, I just really need the data part of it to be read in the same format to work with this code (do I use fread? file get contents?)
<?php
# Include & Instantiate
require('../echove.php');
$bc = new Echove(
'z9Jp-c3-KhWc4fqNf1JWz6SkLDlbO0m8UAwOjDBUSt0.',
'z9Jp-c3-KhWdkasdf74kaisaDaIK7239skaoKWUAwOjDBUSt0..'
);
# Create new metadata
$metaData = array(
'name' => $_POST['title'],
'shortDescription' => $_POST['shortDescription']
);
# Rename the video file
$file = $_FILES['video'];
rename($file['tmp_name'], '/tmp/' . $file['name']);
$file_location = '/tmp/' . $file['name'];
# Send video to Brightcove
$id = $bc->createVideo($file_location, $metaData);
?>
Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

Er - all you'd need to do is feed the location, not a file handle or anything, no?
$files = $_FILES['video'];
$filename = $files['name'];
$file_location = '/home/username/' . $filename; // maybe append the extension
$id = $bc->createVideo($file_location, $metaData);
Or more simply
$id = $bc->createVideo( '/foo/bar/baz.txt', $metaData );

Answer 2

Looks like you don't need to do anything except point at the file on your local disk. What about:
<?php
# Include & Instantiate
require('../echove.php');
$bc = new Echove(
'z9Jp-c3-KhWc4fqNf1JWz6SkLDlbO0m8UAwOjDBUSt0.',
'z9Jp-c3-KhWdkasdf74kaisaDaIK7239skaoKWUAwOjDBUSt0..'
);
# Create new metadata
$metaData = array(
'name' => $_POST['title'],
'shortDescription' => $_POST['shortDescription']
);
# point at some file already on disk
$file_location = '/path/to/my/file.dat'; // <== if the file is already on the box, just set $file_location with the pathname and bob's yer uncle
# Send video to Brightcove
$id = $bc->createVideo($file_location, $metaData);