Book Cover won’t update

Determined that the issue was a combination of server settings not allowing the PHP file_get_contents() function to work properly for external sites, and Kindle/eBook support.

Author, Could you please give me an insight on how you came to this conclusion so I can forward the issue to my sys admin?

Thank you.

Sure,

So sometimes (although this usually isn’t the norm) a hosting company will disable or otherwise restrict the usage of some PHP functions, like the file_get_contents() function. Basically, the file_get_contents() function is a way for a script/program to contact an outside resource and receive information back from that resource (such as book info from Amazon). There are other alternatives to the file_get_contents() function however, such as the PHP cUrl() function. This is how I resolved your issue – I switched out the file_get_contents() function for the cUrl function().

I determined that the file_get_contents() function was to blame by trying to view the raw results from the file_get_contents() function call – and there was none. Then I switched to using cUrl and I received the appropriate response I was expecting.

It’s not that anything is broken or wrong, its’ just that your hosting company (or your company/employer?) has things configured a bit differently (also, as a little technical aside, sometimes the file_get_contents() function can work for retrieving local information and resources, but still fail when trying for external info and resources from a different domain/URL, such as in your case – all depends on how things are configured server-side).

Clear as mud? Hope this makes some kind of sense!

Thanks again for using WPBookList!

-Jake