CSV Document Resource not recognised by PHP file_exists

[dejaya]

Hey folks …

I have a Resource set up as follows:

With the CSV content type as follows:

This resource is used to output a list of MODX users to a CSV file at:

https://mydomain.com/users.csv

and works perfectly.

Further to this I’d like to be able to make a copy of this file to the local [hosting] filesystem on request via a snippet.

The problem is that PHP doesn’t seem to recognise https://mydomain.com/users.csv as an actual file.

file_exists( 'https://mydomain.com/users.csv' )

returns false.

Is this just a limitation of serving files in this way? Or is there some other way I can configure the resource to be recognised?

As always - I’m very grateful for any thoughts.

Chris

[halftrainedharry]

@dejaya

The problem is that PHP doesn’t seem to recognise https://mydomain.com/users.csv as an actual file.

file_exists checks whether a file (or directory) exists in the file system. https://mydomain.com/users.csv is dynamically created when you make a https request.

What exactly are you trying to do that requires the need to call file_exists?

[dejaya]

Hi Harry,

Thanks for your help.

I really just want to make a copy of the file to the local directory.

Here’s part of the snippet I’m creating:

$remotefile = 'https://mydomain.com/users.csv';
$localfile = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/assets/csv/users.csv';

if ( copy($remotefile, $localfile) ) {
	die("CSV copied");
}else{
	die("CSV copy failed.");
}

This always fails with “CSV copy failed”.

I later tried with file_exists but I’m clearly off on the wrong track there.

The copy works fine if I reference a URL to a csv file that actually exists.

C

[markh]

$remotefile = 'https://mydomain.com/users.csv';
$localfile = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/assets/csv/users.csv';

$contents = file_get_contents($remotefile);

if ($contents && file_put_contents($localfile, $contents) {
	die("CSV copied");
}

die("CSV copy failed.");

As long as the https stream wrapper is enabled on the server, file_get_contents will send an actual HTTPS request in the shortest code possible. If that’s not enabled you’ll have to use curl or a HTTP client (like Guzzle) to send the request.

An alternative option could be to render the CSV resource in memory, but sending a request is simpler and makes sure it’s identical to what is normally served.

[dejaya]

Hey @markh - thanks for checking in.

I’ve switched to your version of the code and I believe the HTTPS stream wrapper is enabled:

var_dump(stream_get_wrappers());

returns

array(12) { [0]=> string(5) "https" [1]=> string(4) "ftps" [2]=> string(13) "compress.zlib" [3]=> string(14) "compress.bzip2" [4]=> string(3) "php" [5]=> string(4) "file" [6]=> string(4) "glob" [7]=> string(4) "data" [8]=> string(4) "http" [9]=> string(3) "ftp" [10]=> string(4) "phar" [11]=> string(3) "zip" }

I still see the same behaviour though.

On a static CSV file it works fine. But not on the dynamically generated file.

[dejaya]

I should say that there are probably other ways I can achieve what I need to do - if there doesn’t seem to be an easy fix for this.

[bobray]

Have you checked the permissions on the dynamically created file? Are you sure the file handle is closed before the copy attempt?

[dejaya]

Hi @bobray …

Thanks for taking a look.

I’ve actually worked around this issue by forcing the creation of a secondary CSV file via the snippet itself. So all is good.

However, I wanted to test this and you were spot on. The CSV resource was in an admin-only resource group - taking it out of this group allowed my original code and @markh code to do what they should.

I should note that the PHP file-exists function still returns false - but as @halftrainedharry said, I don’t think that’s wholly relevant.

It’s good to know that this can be made to work.

Thanks again all for helping.

Chris

[bobray]

I’m glad you got it sorted – glad I could help.