file-get-contents() returning "failed to open stream: HTTP request failed!"

Question

Help,

I am having problems calling a url from PHP code. I need to call a service using a querystring from my PHP code. If I type the url into a browser, it works ok, but if I use file-get-contents() to make the call, I get:

Warning: file-get-contents(http://.... ) failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted in ...

The code I am using is:

$query=file_get_contents('http://###.##.##.##/mp/get?mpsrc=http://mybucket.s3.amazonaws.com/11111.mpg&mpaction=convert format=flv');
echo($query);

Like I said - call from the browser and it works fine. Any suggestions?

I have also tried with another url such as

$query=file_get_contents('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFrfeJ8dKM');

This works fine... could it be that the url i need to call has a second http:// in it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi!

I'm not sure about the parameters(mpaction, format), if they are specified for the amazonaws page or ##.##.

Try to urlencode() the url.

Answer 2

Could this be your problem?

Note: If you're opening a URI with special characters, such as spaces, you need to encode the URI with urlencode().

Answer 3

I notice that your URL has spaces in it. I think that usually is a bad thing. Try encoding the URL with $my_url = urlencode("my url"); and then calling file-get-contents($my_url); and see if you have better luck.

Answer 4

file_get_contents() utilizes the fopen() wrappers, therefore it is restricted from accessing URLs through the allow_url_fopen option within php.ini.

You will either need to alter your php.ini to turn this option on or use an alternative method, namely cURL - by far the most popular and, to be honest, standard way to accomplish what you are trying to do.

Answer 5

Try using cURL.

<?php

$curl_handle=curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL,'http://###.##.##.##/mp/get?mpsrc=http://mybucket.s3.amazonaws.com/11111.mpg&amp;mpaction=convert format=flv');
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, 'Your application name');
$query = curl_exec($curl_handle);
curl_close($curl_handle);

?>