PHP fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message - php

Question

I have a PHP script that connects to an api and posts information to their systems, but when its trying to connect it throws a fatal error:
Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'Problem with
'http://apitestserver.co.uk:9000/Service.svc/Items' in
/var/www/html/e/connect_test.php:17 Stack trace: #0
/var/www/html/e/connect_test.php(39):
do_http_request('http://apitest....', 'hello') #1 {main} thrown in
/var/www/html/e/connect_test.php on line 17
If I send it to a PHP script which just grabs the IP then it works, but if I send it to the API it doesn't. My PHP script creates XML and then forwards to the server. I was getting errors so I just created the following smaller script purely to test the connection:
function do_http_request($url, $data, $method = 'POST',
$optional_headers = 'Content-Type: application/atom+xml') {
$params = array(
'http' => array(
'method' => $method,
'content' => $data
)
);
if ($optional_headers !== null) {
$params['http']['header'] = $optional_headers;
}
$ctx = stream_context_create($params);
$fp = fopen($url, 'rb', false, $ctx);
if (!$fp) {
throw new Exception("Problem with $url");
}
$response = #stream_get_contents($fp);
if ($response === false) {
throw new Exception("Problem reading data from $url");
}
$metaData = stream_get_meta_data($fp);
fclose($fp);
if(!preg_match('~^HTTP.*([0-9]{3})~',
$metaData['wrapper_data'][0], $matches)){
throw new Exception('MALFORED RESPONSE - COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HTTP CODE');
}
if (substr($matches[1], 0, 1) != '2') {
throw new Exception('SERVER REPORTED HTTP ERROR ' . $matches[1]);
}
return $response;
}
$data = 'hello';
$paul =
do_http_request('http://apitestserver.co.uk:9000/Service.svc/Items',$data);
echo $paul;
If I change the URL to a simple script on another one of our servers which just grabs the IP of the incoming connection and returns it:
$ip=$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
echo 'IP equals = ' . $ip;
Then it works fine with no errors.
Update -
with errors on it throws the following warning, probably because the script is not sending the correct info to the API
Warning: fopen(http://apitestserver.co.uk:9000/Service.svc/Items)
[function.fopen]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1
500 Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.
Also note that I can access the api server fine using fiddler to send manually created items across, its just when this script tries to connect and send data there is an issue. I wrote another quick script which connects and prints out the default response (an rss feed of submitted items)
When I run the 'main' connector script it throws the following two errors
Warning: fopen() [function.fopen]: php_network_getaddresses:
getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in
/var/www/html/e/sequence.php on line 65
Warning: fopen(http://apitestserver.co.uk:9000/Service.svc/Items)
[function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Operation now in progress
in /var/www/html/e/sequence.php on line 65

Answer 1

I would suggest using curl instead of fopen(). curl is both more flexible, and more secure. Many servers disable allow_url_fopen, curl also fails more gracefully when there are problems on the remote server.

Answer 2

I just tested the URL in my browser and got a connection error.
Maybe the problem is with their server (or you have the wrong URL)?
Edit:
Looks like ther server is throwing a 500 error - maybe because the data you're posting is invalid.
You could use a packet sniffer and check the exact data you're sending to the server (or use cURL as suggested by #acrosman)

Answer 3

apitestserver.co.uk doesn't respond to ping and the url is inaccessable. The API-server doesn't seem to be up.

Answer 4

or You can change the headers:
$optional_headers = 'Content-Type: application/json')

Answer 5

First error message suggests problems with apitestserver - it returns error code 500, which states for "Internal server error".
Second one informs that PHP can't resolve host name into IP address - I'd look into DNS configuration and/or hosts file.
Apparently 'fopen' function does not return proper stream. There can be many possibilities when that happens, but according to PHP manual, fopen function on fail should present E_WARNING message with proper commentary. It is possible that you have errors of that class silenced - call error_reporting(E_ALL) at the beginning of your script and look for some relevant error messages.