How can I use php to login to a webpage, navigate and download a csv file?

Question

I want to write a php script that:

A. logs into a web site B. navigates to specific page (which is a csv file download) C. store the results in a string.

Something like:

$site->connect("dashboard.site.com");
$site->post_vars(array("username"=>"mike","password"=>"2345");
$csv_file = $site->download("dashboard.site.com/file.csv");

I've read about the snoopy class, but documentation seems to not exist so I can't be sure if this is something it can do.

Try "curl", see some examples here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3008817/login-to-remote-site-with-php-curl — Axalix, Oct 23 '15 at 03:50
Curl won't hold on to the cookies .. The next request I make after logging in will forget that I'm logged in. — danjfoley, Oct 23 '15 at 03:52
your right. It does.. and i got it working. I'll answer my own question — danjfoley, Oct 23 '15 at 17:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 23 '15 at 17:42

I figured out how to use Curl to do it. My own login and password and merchant group of course are hidden in this code. But here's how to do it: I hope this helps anyone in the same situation.

$cookie_jar = tempnam('/tmp','cookie');

// log in
$c = curl_init('https://dashboard.powerreviews.com/dashboard/login');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookie_jar);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, false);
$page = curl_exec($c);
curl_close($c);

$post_fields = array("j_username" => "USERNAME", "j_password" => "PASSWORD", "command"=>"Login");
$post_data = http_build_query($post_fields);

$c = curl_init('https://dashboard.powerreviews.com/process_login');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookie_jar);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookie_jar);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_data);
$page = curl_exec($c);
curl_close($c);

// switch to Reviews Account
$c = curl_init('https://dashboard.powerreviews.com/programs/epc?accessMerchantGroup=xxxxx');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookie_jar);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookie_jar);
$csv_file = curl_exec($c);
curl_close($c);


// download RA unsubscribes
$c = curl_init('https://dashboard.powerreviews.com/dashboard/unsubscribes.csv');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookie_jar);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookie_jar);
$csv_file = curl_exec($c);
curl_close($c);
echo $csv_file;

How can I use php to login to a webpage, navigate and download a csv file?

1 Answers1