How to emulate POSTing multiple checkbox form fields myField[] with Zend_Http_Client?

Question

I am using Zend_Http_Client to POST a set of data to my server running PHP. However, the server is expecting data in the form myField[], i.e. I have a set of check boxes and the user can check more than one. My current code is:

   foreach ($myValues as $value) {
    $this->client->setParameterPost('myField[]', $value);
   }

However, it seems that Zend_Http_Client is simply overwriting myField[] with the new value each time it goes through the loop. How can I add multiple POST fields of the same name using Zend_Http_Client?

UPDATE

I have actually figured out a way to do this, by hacking the Zend_Http_Client code itself. However this is not ideal. Here's how I did it:

First, I simply added the values to the POST fields like this:

$myValues = array(0,1,2);
$this->client->setParameterPost('myField', $myValues);

In the function _prepareBody(), Zend_Http_Client builds the POST data with the following code:

  $body = http_build_query($this->paramsPost, '', '&');

If you look at the POST data that it builds, it looks like this:

myField[0]=0&myField[1]=1&myField[2]=2

Of course, it is url-encoded, so it looks like this:

myField%5B0%5D=0&myField%5B1%5D=1&myField%5B2%D=2

So, I just added a preg_replace to make [0] -> [], [1] -> [], etc:

$body = preg_replace('/%5B(?:[0-9]|[1-9][0-9]+)%5D=/', '%5B%5D=', $body);

I'd rather just use Zend_Http_Client without making changes to the library code, but this works for now. I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on how to do it without hacking the libraries.

Are you still trying to do this? I see you've posted a subsequent question... — David Snabel-Caunt, Sep 13 '11 at 19:21
Yes, I am trying to do this still. I have come up with a hack that does it by changing the Zend_Http_Client code, but it's not ideal. I'll put it in the question. — Jason, Sep 13 '11 at 19:23
You should just extend the Zend class, rather than modifying it directly — Phil, Sep 13 '11 at 23:11
Could you suggest a good way to extend it, outside of copy & pasting the entire function and *then* changing what it does, considering that I want to modify the results of a native PHP function? — Jason, Sep 14 '11 at 05:00

David Snabel-Caunt · Answer 1 · 2011-09-14T10:12:42.363

The simplest approach may be just to set the raw post body yourself:

$values = array(
    0,
    1,
    2,
);

$key = 'myField';
$rawData = '';
foreach ($values as $value) {
    if ($rawData !== '') {
        $rawData .= '&';
    }
    $rawData .= $key . '%5B%5D=' . $value;
}

$client = new Zend_Http_Client();
$client->setRawData($rawData);
$client->setUri('http://www.davidcaunt.co.uk/');
$client->request(Zend_Http_Client::POST);

$request = $client->getLastRequest();

//Zend_Debug::dump($request);
Zend_Debug::dump(urldecode($request));

Postdata

myField[]=0&myField[]=1&myField[]=2

If you have other variables to send in the postdata, you'll probably want to subclass Zend_Http_Client and override the implementation of _prepareBody() as follows.

This modification aims to remain compatible with future updates, and as such, calls the parent method unless POST params are set, and the form is not multipart (a file upload):

class My_Http_Client extends Zend_Http_Client
{

    function _prepareBody() 
    {
        if (count($this->paramsPost) > 0 && $this->enctype == self::ENC_URLENCODED) {
            $this->setHeaders(self::CONTENT_TYPE, self::ENC_URLENCODED);

            $body = '';
            foreach ($this->paramsPost as $key => $value) {

                if (is_array($value)) {
                    foreach ($value as $v) {
                        $body .= $key . '%5B%5D=' . $v . '&';
                    }
                } else {
                    $body .= $key . '=' . $value . '&';
                }               
            }

            return rtrim($body, '&');
        }

        return parent::_prepareBody();
    }
}

Usage

$client = new My_Http_Client();
$client->setParameterPost('name', 'John');
$client->setParameterPost('myField', array(0,1,2));
$client->setUri('http://www.davidcaunt.co.uk/');
$client->request(Zend_Http_Client::POST);

$request = $client->getLastRequest();

Zend_Debug::dump(urldecode($request));

The problem is that I am contacting an API which expects them without numeric keys. — Jason, Sep 13 '11 at 19:58
Fair enough, see my revised answer for how to set your own body string. — David Snabel-Caunt, Sep 13 '11 at 20:40
Using setRawData is definitely the way to go if you do not want the numeric keys there. It's better than hacking ZHC code. — shevron, Sep 14 '11 at 07:43
That's a wonderful answer - thank you! Helped me a lot here: http://stackoverflow.com/q/30095209/3218828 — Stephan Weinhold, May 11 '15 at 06:55

How to emulate POSTing multiple checkbox form fields myField[] with Zend_Http_Client?

1 Answers1

Linked