# PHP cURL script to control Roku box not working

**URL:** <https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049>\
**Category:** Archived\
**Tags:** roku-developer-program\
**Created:** [January 2, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049 "2015-01-02T03:05:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/1 "2015-01-02T03:05:43Z")

</div>

I was [reading here](http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/External+Control+Guide#ExternalControlGuide-32ExternalControlProtocolExamples) about the RESTful service accessed via the http protocol on port 8060. They provide command line curl examples, like:

```auto
$ curl -d '' http://192.168.1.134:8060/keypress/home

```

I need to write this as a PHP script that will execute a series of actions (all require just a POST request): keypress/home, launch/appid, keypress/select, keypress/right, keypress/right, keypress/select.

See below for what I came up with for one command. Two questions:

**1) My Roku is not responding to this, so what am I doing wrong?**  
**2) What’s the best way to send multiple POST requests one after the other?**

```auto
<?php
$ch = curl_init('http://192.168.1.134:8060/keypress/home');
$data = '';

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '$data');
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
?>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RokuChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@RokuChris](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/RokuChris)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/2 "2015-01-02T03:27:19Z")

</div>

You shouldn’t have quotes around your $data variable. And you have a wrong variable name in one of your setopt calls, $curl instead of $ch.

```auto
<?php
$ch = curl_init('http://192.168.1.157:8060/keypress/home');
$data = '';

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
?>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/3 "2015-01-02T03:57:02Z")

</div>

Thanks, those were some dumb mistakes. However, even with those corrections, my Roku is not responding when I run the script.

Takes a long time for the script to run too, like 1.5 minutes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![renojim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@renojim](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/renojim)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/4 "2015-01-02T06:32:07Z")

</div>

Chris’ code works for me. It kind of sounds like you’re using the wrong IP address if it’s taking 1.5 minutes to complete.

-JT

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/5 "2015-01-02T06:38:58Z")

</div>

Would it matter if I’m running the script on a remote web server? As long as the computer/browser that I’m executing it from is on the same network, shouldn’t it work?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheEndless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@TheEndless](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/TheEndless)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/6 "2015-01-02T06:46:39Z")

</div>

> “bryanharley” wrote:  
> Would it matter if I’m running the script on a remote web server? As long as the computer/browser that I’m executing it from is on the same network, shouldn’t it work?  
> If you’re using php, the code is running on the server, so it’ll only work if the server is on the same network as your Roku.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/7 "2015-01-02T06:48:06Z")

</div>

Oh duh. I need to use a public IP and port forward.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/8 "2015-01-02T22:49:24Z")

</div>

Alright, well now that I’m past that dumb mistake…

Is there a more efficient way of doing these multiple calls or is this OK?

```auto

<?php
$ch1 = curl_init('http://192.168.1.130:8060/keypress/home');
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '');
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 
$response1 = curl_exec($ch1);
curl_close($ch1);

$ch2 = curl_init('http://192.168.1.130:8060/launch/20802_6415');
curl_setopt($ch2, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch2, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '');
curl_setopt($ch2, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 
$response2 = curl_exec($ch2);
curl_close($ch2);

sleep(3);

$ch3 = curl_init('http://192.168.1.130:8060/keypress/select');
curl_setopt($ch3, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch3, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '');
curl_setopt($ch3, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 
$response3 = curl_exec($ch3);
curl_close($ch3);

$ch4 = curl_init('http://192.168.1.130:8060/keypress/select');
curl_setopt($ch4, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch4, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '');
curl_setopt($ch4, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 
$response4 = curl_exec($ch4);
curl_close($ch4);

$ch5 = curl_init('http://192.168.1.130:8060/keypress/select');
curl_setopt($ch5, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch5, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '');
curl_setopt($ch5, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
 
$response5 = curl_exec($ch5);
curl_close($ch5);
?>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EnTerr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@EnTerr](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/EnTerr)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/9 "2015-01-03T20:39:17Z")

</div>

I am not a PHP witch doctor 😛 but seems to me would be good to put all that stuff from _curl\_init_ to _curl\_close_ in a procedure/function and then call it repeatedly something like

```auto
post_roku_cmd('192.168.1.130', '/keypress/home')
post_roku_cmd('192.168.1.130', '/launch/20802_6415')

```

And you don’t need to hit Home before launching a channel (except maybe with screen saver, dont remember). Btw, if this is to be invoked from browser, best will be to so that without a server and server-side scripting - see how [remoku.tv](http://remoku.tv) does it. Opening public port to home Roku is not something i’d recommend.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/10 "2015-01-03T21:07:06Z")

</div>

I agree it would be better to do this without a server.

Someone else wrote this javascript, but I was not able to get it to work client-side in a browser. Any idea why?

```auto
<script>
function post1() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/keypress/home");
xdr.send(); 
postdelay1();
}
function postdelay1() {
setTimeout("post2()",1000);
}
function post2() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/launch/12333");
xdr.send(); 
postdelay2();
}
function postdelay2() {
setTimeout("post3()",1000);
}
function post3() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/keypress/right");
xdr.send(); 
postdelay3();
}
function postdelay3() {
setTimeout("post4()",1000);
}
function post4() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/keypress/select");
xdr.send(); 
postdelay4();
}
function postdelay4() {
setTimeout("post5()",1000);
}
function post5() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/keypress/select");
xdr.send(); 
postdelay5();
}
function postdelay5() {
setTimeout("post6()",1000);
}
function post6() {
xdr = new XDomainRequest(); 
xdr.onload=function()
{
    alert(xdr.responseText);
}
xdr.open("POST", "http://192.168.110.100:8060/keypress/select");
xdr.send(); 
}
</script>
<body onload="post1()">

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheEndless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@TheEndless](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/TheEndless)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/11 "2015-01-03T21:15:51Z")

</div>

> “bryanharley” wrote:  
> Someone else wrote this javascript, but I was not able to get it to work client-side in a browser. Any idea why?  
> I believe XDomainRequest is a IE only object, so that script will only work in Internet Explorer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/12 "2015-01-03T21:17:45Z")

</div>

Right, and I’ve been testing it in IE 11 on a computer on the same network as my Roku. Can’t get it to work though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bryanharley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@bryanharley](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/bryanharley)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/php-curl-script-to-control-roku-box-not-working/4049/13 "2015-01-03T22:30:50Z")

</div>

Ah, looks like XDomainRequest is depreciated in IE 11, need to use XMLHttpRequest instead.