3rd party posting data to our website - http post

[richard2007]

we purchase leads from a 3rd part which at present are delivered by email, the supplier is able to post the leads directly to our website and has asked for my intergration guide.

I have had a look at and it looks like i need HTTP Post and something like this

http_post("https://mywebaddress.co.uk/lead_post.a5w", req_body,"",80,.f.,.t.)

a couple of things i am unsure of;

how do i get the suppliers fields in to 'Body' and match those field names to my own and then get the data in to my website?

also we have an SSL certificate and i have read that the argument for Validate_SSL_Certificate may fail if it can not guarantee the identity of the server. (Zebrahost set the SSL certificate up for us)

Security - how should i deal with this, do i set the security of this one page as accessible to anyone or pass the login details in the HTTP Post.

this is brand new to me so let me know if im on the wrong track.

thanks

[Steve Wood]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

Since they are not using Alpha Five, you only need to give them the A5W page address. They will use whatever technology they have to post to that page. You need to fashion your A5W page to parse the data, move it into your database. In order to create this page you have to ask them how they plan to deliver the data. It will be either POST or XML.

POST looks like this: fname=steve&lname=wood

Your A5W page will be "all code" (no tags for html, title, body, head, etc.). To start with, your page might look like this:

'==debug section
dim cc as c = request.body
save_to_file(cc,"c:\myrequest.txt") '==saves request to file for review
'== end debug section

dim v_fname as c = if(variable_exists("request.variables.fname"),request.variables.fname,"")
dim v_lname as c = if(variable_exists("request.variables.lname"),request.variables.lname,"")
'then run the routine to move data from variables in to your table(s).

They might want you to return a "success" or something. To return text to their call, just end your code with:

?"success" '== or whatever they need to know the post was a success

[richard2007]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

thanks Steve, this makes sense to me.

[pettechservices]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

Just throwing my .02 in... would it be wise to make sure they send some type of authentication string so you don't get random spam send that to that web page?

[richard2007]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

we are successfuly getting the leads in to our application and they are being processed as we need.

would it be wise to make sure they send some type of authentication string so you don't get random spam send that to that web page?

what would i need to do to stop spam data geting in to the tables?

[Steve Wood]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

Add this to the top of your page:

if request.request_method <> "POST"
END
end if

That will stop ALL normal web hits and only allow POSTs to hit the page. Then, ask the provide what their IP address is (or range of IP's), and add this:

if request.remote_addr <> "111.111.111.111"
END
end if

That will limit to just that IP address.

You can also test for a required parameter in the POST. Pick a parameter provided in the post that is non-common. "Fname" is too common, but "motorsize" (example) is not common. Test that motorsize exists and has a value, reject the post if not.

[richard2007]

Re: 3rd party posting data to our website - http post

Thanks for all your help with this Steve, this has added a really cool feature to our application.