Issue saving file with PHP script

Question

I'm making a PHP script for a JavaScipt site I've made.

The goal is to save the contents of a string as an HTML file when I click a button.

I'm using jQuery to make a Post request.

I'm using an Ubuntu OS with an Apache 2 server. The folder I'm writing to has permissions 777 (for testing only, will repeal this).

A requirement is the PHP must live in another file.

The issue is whenever I make the request, the file saves blank.

A requirement is each filename must be a timestamp. The file has the correct file name, but not contents.

So far, here is my code:

<?php

$fileName = $_GET['fileNameData'];
$htmlImport = $_GET['htmlToSaveData'];

$htmlToSave = (string)$htmlImport;

$myFile = fopen($fileName, "w") or die('You do not have write permissions');

//fwrite($myFile, $htmlToSave);
file_put_contents($myFile, $htmlToSave); 
fclose($myFile);

?>

I've tried the frwite function that I've commented out, same effect.

I have tested this in terminal by passing in arguments ($argv[1] and $argv[2]). That works fine.

The JS I've made to run my site looks like:

var newURL = 'saveHTML.php/?fileNameData=' + fileName + '&htmlToSaveData=' + htmlToSave
$.post(newURL)
    .done(function(){
        alert('Your file saved as ...' + htmlToSave)
    })

I've also tried this code, with the same result:

$.post('saveHTML.php/', {
    fileNameData : fileName,
    htmlToSaveData : htmlToSave
})

Both the fileName and htmlToSave are strings, although htmlToSave is rather long and is actually html text that I've converted to a string.

Does anyone have ideas about what's going on here? I'm not a PHP developer at all.

I'm using a callback so I can be sure I've collected all my html before I pass the string to PHP.

I've read and tested the recommendations on this question here and this has been fruitless.

EDIT Don't be alarmed about the code, I realise it's a security issue but this is a learning project and this will not be in production.

Answer 1

I can see right off the bat that you have

$myFile = fopen($fileName, "w") or die('You do not have write permissions');

//fwrite($myFile, $htmlToSave);
file_put_contents($myFile, $htmlToSave); 
fclose($myFile);

file_put_contents takes a file name, not a handle. So you would only need

file_put_contents($fileName, $htmlToSave);

Edit: I also feel like I should point out that you should not allow your users to name your files. They could potentially do some nasty stuff to your machine.