Using Arrays in cURL POST Requests

In an attempt to send an array of images using cURL, users may encounter issues where only the first array value is transmitted. This question explores how to rectify this problem.

The original code appears to have a minor flaw in the array structure. To resolve this, it's recommended to use http_build_query to correctly format the array:

$fields = array(
    'username' => "annonymous",
    'api_key' => urlencode("1234"),
    'images' => array(
        urlencode(base64_encode('image1')),
        urlencode(base64_encode('image2'))
    )
);

$fields_string = http_build_query($fields);

This modification ensures that the array is correctly encoded into a query string. The updated code below incorporates this change:

extract($_POST);

$url = 'http://api.example.com/api';
$fields = array(
    'username' => "annonymous",
    'api_key' => urlencode("1234"),
    'images' => array(
        urlencode(base64_encode('image1')),
        urlencode(base64_encode('image2'))
    )
);

$fields_string = http_build_query($fields);

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $fields_string);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

curl_close($ch);

With this updated code, the array of images will be correctly sent in the POST request. The API will receive both images as expected.