Post data with https does not get processed at Server side - vbscript

Question

I am having a VBScript which gets invoked from a 3rd party application, the script gets the data from the 3rd party application and opens the URL in an IE browser by passing the data in POST format. The script works fine when I use http as the protocol but the moment I use https, the server side code (request.getParameter("param1")) complains that it is not able to find the parameter in the request object. The script is called by passing the URL and the data. e.g. run.vbs https://xyz.com?param1=1234. Following is the vbscript for your kind perusal. Can you please let me know what I am missing when I am using https as the protocol. Any help is highly appreciated. Many thanks.
If WScript.Arguments.Count = 1 Then
uri = WScript.Arguments.Item(0)
'WScript.Echo "Arguments " & uri
Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
'WScript.Echo "Current User Name: " & WshNetwork.UserName
filename="C:\Documents and Settings\"+WshNetwork.UserName+"\Application Data\XYZ\Profiles\default\Settings.xml"
'WScript.Echo "Current User fileName: " & filename
Set xmlDoc = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xmlDoc.Async = "False"
xmlDoc.Load(filename)
strQuery = "Agent"
Set colItem = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagname(strQuery)
For Each objItem in colItem
Agentid = objItem.getAttribute("Login")
'MsgBox "AgentId = " + AgentID
Next
'uri = uri+"^&agentid="+Agentid
uri = uri+"&agentid="+Agentid
pos = InStr(uri,"?")
extracteduri = Mid(uri,1,pos-1)
params = Mid(uri, pos+1)
postdata = Str2Bytes(params,"us-ascii")
header = "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
'IE.Navigate "about:blank"
'IE.AddressBar = True
'IE.ToolBar = True
'IE.StatusBar = True
IE.Visible = True
'WScript.Sleep 2000
Set shl = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
shl.SendKeys "% X"
IE.Navigate extracteduri, Nothing, Nothing, postdata, header
Wscript.Quit
Else
Wscript.Echo "Usage: RunURL.vbs <URL to invoke>"
Wscript.Quit
End If
Function Str2Bytes(Text, CharSet)
Const adTypeText = 2
Const adTypeBinary = 1
'Create Stream object
Dim BinaryStream 'As New Stream
Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
'Specify stream type - we want To save text/string data.
BinaryStream.Type = adTypeText
'Specify charset For the source text (unicode) data.
If Len(CharSet) > 0 Then
BinaryStream.CharSet = CharSet
Else
BinaryStream.CharSet = "us-ascii"
End If
'Open the stream And write text/string data To the object
BinaryStream.Open
BinaryStream.WriteText Text
'Change stream type To binary
BinaryStream.Position = 0
BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary
'Ignore first two bytes - sign of
BinaryStream.Position = 0
'Open the stream And get binary data from the object
Str2Bytes = BinaryStream.Read
End Function
I am now using the below function to get the response from the server using https as the protocol and POST as the format but still the server is not able to see the parameter
Set req = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP")
'Set the below option to get rid of the "Certificate authority is invalid or
'incorrect, error code - 80072F0D" error
req.setOption 2, 13056
req.open "POST", extracteduri, False
req.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
encodedParams = Escape(params)
WScript.Echo "encodedParams: " & encodedParams
req.send encodedParams
WScript.Echo "req.responseText: " & req.responseText
Below are the encoded parameters
uui%3DU1%3D123456%26agentid%3D123456
The server still complains that the parameter is missing from the request object.
I am using the same script (XMLHTTP request) but I am encrypting the parameters using the Str2Bytes function (declared above)
Set req = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP")
req.setOption 2, 13056
req.open "POST", extracteduri, False
req.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
req.send postdata
WScript.Echo "req.responseText: " & req.responseText

Answer 1

I'd recommend using an XMLHTTPRequest instead of the Internet Explorer COM object. See here for an example. Note that you must encode special characters in the post data.
However, if you want to open the URL in IE anyway, you'd probably better stick with your original approach. In that case I'd check the server for more information about why the server side thinks it cannot find the parameter. Does the request even have a parameter named "param1"?