Send POST data via raw JSON with Postman

Question

I've got Postman (the one that doesn't open in Chrome) and I'm trying to do a POST request using raw JSON.

In the Body tab I have "raw" selected and "JSON (application/json)" with this body:

{
    "foo": "bar"
}

For the header I have 1, Content-Type: application/json

On the PHP side I'm just doing print_r($_POST); for now, and I'm getting an empty array.

If I use jQuery and do:

$.ajax({
    "type": "POST",
    "url": "/rest/index.php",
    "data": {
        "foo": "bar"
    }
}).done(function (d) {
    console.log(d);
});

I'm getting as expected:

Array
(
    [foo] => bar
)

So why isn't it working with Postman?

Postman screenshots:

and header:

Try $_REQUEST instead $_POST and var_dump() instead print_r() — Deep, Aug 18 '16 at 00:11
@Deep I get `array(1) {["foo"]=> string(3) "bar"}` with jQuery and still an empty array with Postman: `array(0) {}` — Smern, Aug 18 '16 at 00:15
@smerny in your post `fields` and `foo` wont match thus it won't work, Im not sure if it is a typo but make sure they match — meda, Aug 18 '16 at 00:21
@meda, right that was a typo, but if I had fields it still should have output in the var dump of $_REQUEST or $_POST — Smern, Aug 18 '16 at 00:22
@smerny try `print_r(file_get_contents("php://input"));` because you are sending raw json. `print_r(json_decode(file_get_contents("php://input"), true));` — meda, Aug 18 '16 at 00:55
@meda, interesting... this is giving me `{ "foo": "bar"}` with Postman now... and `foo=bar` with jQuery. I really need it to give me the same thing in both places... Postman is really just for testing — Smern, Aug 18 '16 at 01:03
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/121215/discussion-between-meda-and-smerny). — meda, Aug 18 '16 at 01:05

score 93 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 29 '19 at 01:09

93

Just check JSON option from the drop down next to binary; when you click raw. This should do

answered Jan 29 '19 at 01:09

Itachi

2,817
27
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8

this is a fairly old post.. but if you look at the question you'll see that I did exactly that. you may want to read the question, the selected answer, and the comments on the selected answer to understand the problem and solution better. – Smern Jan 29 '19 at 07:16
3

Sure, but this actually pinpointed the issue I had; I had "Text" selected, not application/json, even though that was already mentioned in the Headers section. Its confusing; if you choose "Text", then the entire HTTP POST "code" is displayed, including the JSON, which I expected to work, since its a full POST call, not just the json. – Ted Aug 18 '19 at 08:17
Great! this was my "issue". I've expected that the JSON is a logical default – Sinisa Rudan Mar 15 '22 at 11:01

score 54 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 10 '18 at 19:37

54

Unlike jQuery in order to read raw JSON you will need to decode it in PHP.

print_r(json_decode(file_get_contents("php://input"), true));

php://input is a read-only stream that allows you to read raw data from the request body.

$_POST is form variables, you will need to switch to form radiobutton in postman then use:

foo=bar&foo2=bar2

To post raw json with jquery:

$.ajax({
    "url": "/rest/index.php",
    'data': JSON.stringify({foo:'bar'}),
    'type': 'POST',
    'contentType': 'application/json'
});

edited Sep 10 '18 at 19:37

ahnbizcad

10,491
9
59
85

answered Aug 18 '16 at 00:32

meda

45,103
14
92
122

yes exaclty posting json vs post variables are different – meda Aug 18 '16 at 02:02

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 12 '18 at 13:16

8

I was facing the same problem, following code worked for me:

$params = (array) json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), TRUE);
print_r($params);

edited Dec 12 '18 at 13:16

finefoot

9,914
7
59
102

answered Mar 29 '17 at 05:48

Neo

523
7
15

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 27 '17 at 09:22

8

meda's answer is completely legit, but when I copied the code I got an error!

Somewhere in the "php://input" there's an invalid character (maybe one of the quotes?).

When I typed the "php://input" code manually, it worked. Took me a while to figure out!

answered Apr 27 '17 at 09:22

CoredusK

1,173
9
14

1

Glad I scrolled down a little further and saw this - I was having the same issue. Good find! – Charlie Stanard Aug 20 '18 at 18:24
4

It looks like someone fixed it in an edit to meda's post. But I looked at the edit history and found that the original post had `200c 200b` (zero width characters) between the "n" and "p" in "input". Not sure how he ended up with that, but it's fixed now. – Smern Feb 14 '19 at 16:19
Glad I scrolled down. after around 3 hours of wastage got it fixed – Ritobroto Mukherjee Apr 16 '21 at 18:40

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 21 '21 at 04:41

4

Solution 1

Solution 2

Both solutions are working perfectly.

Thanks

answered Aug 21 '21 at 04:41

Shojib Flamon

1,237
3
12
18

Only the second option worked for me – Nowdeen Jul 11 '22 at 17:06

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 28 '18 at 10:17

0

Install Postman native app, Chrome extension has been deprecated. (Mine was opening in own window but still ran as Chrome app)

answered Jun 28 '18 at 10:17

Jaroslav Štreit

415
1
5
16

5

This doesn't answer the question. – jhpratt Jan 01 '19 at 07:36
@jhpratt actually it does. I had same problem. When used Postman app, it worked. Question is: So why isn't it working with Postman? – Jaroslav Štreit Jan 02 '19 at 08:25

Send POST data via raw JSON with Postman

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