using XML API with PHP

[knowram]

Hello all. I am a self taught developer and therefore only know what i have done so please be nice. I am trying to figure out how to use an XML API from cisco. They have given the following example.

POST http://<server>/vmrest/users?templateAlias=voicemailusertemplate
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<User>
<Alias>jdoe</Alias>
<DtmfAccessId>7890</DtmfAccessId>
</User>

presumably if I really knew what I was doing this would make sense to me however it does not. I would like to be able to perform this function through a web interface with php. After doing some searching I found the following bit of code that I tried manipulate to  to complete the function above however I am having problems getting it to work. 

<?php
  //You can use 'POST','GET','PUT' or 'DELETE'
  $xml = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <User>
  <Alias>jdoe</Alias>
  <DtmfAccessId>7890</DtmfAccessId>
  </User>';
$auth = base64_encode('username:password');
$header = array("Authorization: Basic $auth");


$opts = array(
    'http'=>array(
        'method'=>'POST',
        'header'=>$header,
        'content'=>$xml
    )
);


$context = stream_context_create($opts);


/* Sends an http request to www.example.com
with additional headers shown above */
$url = 'http://172.16.16.121/vmrest/users?templateAlias=voicemailusertemplate';
$fp = fopen($url, 'r', false, $context);
fpassthru($fp);
fclose($fp);
?>

If anyone could help point me in the right direction I would much appreciate it. Thank you

[Muddy_Funster]

I don't actualy get what you are trying to do here...

[knowram]

If I understand the API correctly I am trying to do 'POST','GET','PUT' or 'DELETE' functions with an XML payload. but even saying that I am not sure what it means. 

[boompa]

You should really take the time to learn how to use the cURL library to make your http requests.

 

In any event, just telling us it doesn't work without more detail into how it is not meeting your needs is sort of useless.

[AbraCadaver]

Why not use the HTTP classes from PHP? http://us3.php.net/manual/en/class.httprequest.php

[knowram]

thank you guys for the input. I understand that just saying it doesn't work is not really helpful. I did that mostly because I am still trying to figure out the best way to do this. I have seen some posts that talk about the cURL library and now AbraCadaver has suggested HTTP classes. I am looking for something simple that I can simply update the XML that needs to be sent as well as the action ( POST, PUT, DELETE, GET). Sorry I didn't write the original post this way it's mostly only now become clear that this was my intention for this post. I know this is allot but would you be able to share an example of a POST with each method (cURL, HTTP classes) that has authentication by any chance?