PHP, file_get_contents() returning null for PDF files

Question

I would like to get content of a pdf file into a variable. I tried to do this using

file_get_contents("file.pdf")

but it's returning NULL. If I do the same with .jpg file for example it's working. Any idea how to overcome this problem? Is there another way? Thanks in advance!

Edit:

Service code:

<?php

function sendAttachment($msg){
$responsePayloadString = <<<XML
    <payload:receiveReport xmlns:payload="http://wso2.org/wsfphp/samples/mtom">
        <payload:reports> 
            <payload:report>
                <payload:content xmlmime:contentType="application/pdf" xmlns:xmlmime="http://www.w3.org/2004/06/xmlmime">
                    <xop:Include xmlns:xop="http://www.w3.org/2004/08/xop/include" href="cid:report1"></xop:Include>
                </payload:content>
            </payload:report>
        </payload:reports>
    </payload:receiveReport>
XML;
$report1 = file_get_contents("samplePDF.pdf");

$responseMessage = new WSMessage($responsePayloadString, 
        array("attachments" => array("report1" => $report1),
                "useWSA" => TRUE));  
return $responseMessage;    
}

$operations = array("receiveReport" => "sendAttachment");

$service = new WSService(array("operations" => $operations, 
                                            "requestXOP" => TRUE, 
                                            "useMTOM" => TRUE));

$service->reply();

?>

Client Code:

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL); 
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

/******* FirePHP Debug *******/
require_once('../FirePHPCore/FirePHP.class.php');
ob_start();
$firephp = FirePHP::getInstance(true);
/******* FirePHP Debug *******/

$requestPayloadString = <<<XML
<receiveReport></receiveReport>

XML;

try {
$client = new WSClient(
    array( "to" => "http://localhost/ReportDL/ReportService.php",
           "useMTOM" => TRUE,
           "responseXOP" => TRUE,
           "useWSA" => TRUE));

$requestMessage = new WSMessage($requestPayloadString);                    
$responseMessage = $client->request($requestMessage);

$cid2stringMap = $responseMessage->attachments;
$cid2contentMap = $responseMessage->cid2contentType;

if($cid2stringMap && $cid2contentMap){
    foreach($cid2stringMap as $i=>$value){
        $f = $cid2stringMap[$i];
        $contentType = $cid2contentMap[$i];

        $firephp->log($f, "pdf");       //DEBUG

    }
}else{
    printf("attachments not received ");
}

} catch (Exception $e) {

if ($e instanceof WSFault) {
    printf("Soap Fault: %s\n", $e->Reason);
} else {
    printf("Message = %s\n",$e->getMessage());
}
}

?>

Edit2:

string '%PDF-1.5
%âãÏÓ
2 0 obj
<</Length 285/Filter/FlateDecode>>stream
xœ’_KÃ0Åßó)Ä{“4i|S¨‚ÓÀžµKiçÚ­0¿½i;ëýƒ#ÐÐÃýœž¦dwŽI
&ÒàV,qlÁJfŒ�%hCåÙ’­;YǪÕrÿÎÿêeã|}O@\Æ0,‹<ÌXäE¯6OW°‹‡z
ñÑ
Z¸}¼t]®æ$ä’Õð³ToGÞ!5¾í»R ›4Ù<)¤:•&ž@©ù¸v’4®ƒžB®gÁ6è49X»P‚c@uÌíPñîÝÃҿ“ß|V;Hö/Å&÷Ðw?f    I.MHq²Mö>­w~5k$‘8Šq£ç:õÛmVçù?òi©ý'Ó-Í^$eNðÿ\¥sá6ø(¼`ßè¿Á÷
endstream
endobj
6 0 obj
<</Type/Catalog/PageMode/UseNone/Pages 3 0 R>>
endobj
7 0 obj
<</Creator(BIRT Report Engine 2.6.0 using iText version unknown.)/Producer('... (length=1231)

Answer 1

file_get_contents() should return FALSEif a file is unreadable - otherwise it return a string containing the files content.

The problem must lie elsewhere - start debugging your code in a procedural way with var_dump() to find out where your data is lost.

Answer 2

You need to add the following code at the top of your PHP page.

header("Content-type:application/pdf");