Can't create new contact via API

Question

I am using the ExactTarget REST API.

I am able to get my access token successfully via OAuth and can make some GET requests (i.e. https://www.exacttargetapis.com/contacts/v1/schema) that return the expected results, but I get no response when I attempt to create a new contact.

(I have confirmed the app has write access).

What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

<?php
$url = 'https://www.exacttargetapis.com/contacts/v1/contacts';
$json = '{
    "contactKey": "[email protected]",
    "attributeSets": [{
        "name": "Email Addresses",
        "items": [{
            "values": [{
                "name": "Email Address",
                "value": "[email protected]"
            }]
        }]
    }]
}';

$options = array(
    'http' => array(
        'header' =>  "Content-Type: application/json\r\n" .
            "Accept: application/json\r\n" .
            "Authorization: Bearer " . $access_token . "\r\n",
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'content' => http_build_query($json)
    )
);
$context  = stream_context_create($options);
$result = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

if ($result === FALSE) { echo "Result not returned"; }
print_r($result);
?>

Answer 1

If you look at http_build_query function:

Generate URL-encoded query string from array or json. 

But you're passing string. Then you're using file_get_contents which couldn't proceed with errors if any. e.g. if server couldn't proceed with request, you will see just:

Warning: file_get_contents(https://example.com): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request

Try to use cURL instead:

<?php
$url = 'https://www.example.com';
//If will be easier to construct request as object and then convert to String.
$jsonData = array(
    'contactKey' => '[email protected]'//,
    //'attributeSets' => array(
    //...
);

//Initiate cURL.
$ch = curl_init($url);

//Encode the array into JSON.
$jsonDataEncoded = json_encode($jsonData);

//Tell cURL that we want to send a POST request.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);

//Attach our JSON string to the POST fields.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $jsonDataEncoded);

//Set the content type to application/json
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/json', 
    'Authorization: Bearer ' . $access_token)); 

//Ignore SSL verification 
//curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
//curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);

//Execute the request
$result = curl_exec($ch);
if(curl_errno($ch)){
    echo 'Request Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}
print_r($result);
?>