Docusign REST API: Downloading document to string - docusignapi

Question

I am building an app using the docusign API and PHP. I have most of this working except I cannot figure out how to download the document. I have been searching on this site and on the Docusign site. Docusign has an example here, that shows how to get a list of docs in PHP, but the downloading does not have a PHP example. In the Docusign REST API docs they explain the method here. But this says the response is "PDF File".
In my sample code below, I have tried to put the contents into a file, but it creates and empty file. If I print_r($data), I get this:
SplFileObject Object
(
[pathName:SplFileInfo:private] => /tmp/419ULk
[fileName:SplFileInfo:private] => 419ULk
[openMode:SplFileObject:private] => w
[delimiter:SplFileObject:private] => ,
[enclosure:SplFileObject:private] => "
)
It does create the file in /tmp, but I want to keep the document in a string so I send or save to DB.
Here is my controller function:
public function get_document($envelopeId, $cert = FALSE)
{
$save_dir = BASEPATH."../documents/";
if ($envelopeId) {
$this->load->model('docusign_model');
$data = $this->docusign_model->get_document($envelopeId, $cert);
}
file_put_contents($save_dir.$envelopeId.".pdf", $data);
//print_r($data);
die("116");
}
This is in docusign_model:
public function get_document($envelopeId, $cert)
{
$docuSignAuth = $this->auth();
if ($docuSignAuth) {
$envelopeApi = new EnvelopesApi($docuSignAuth->apiClient);
$options = new GetDocumentOptions();
if($cert) {
$options->setCertificate(TRUE);
} else {
$options->setCertificate(FALSE);
}
return $envelopeApi->getDocument($docuSignAuth->accountId, 1, $envelopeId, $options);
}
return false;
}
How can I get this document and keep it in a string?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

The content comes back as a file, you have to read the temp file and save that to the desired file
Quick snippet using file_get_contents and file_put_contents
$docStream = $envelopeApi->getDocument($accountId, 1, $envelopeId);
file_put_contents("my_document.pdf", file_get_contents($docStream->getPathname()));
More info DocuSign REST API :: EnvelopeDocuments: get under Get a Single Document as a PDF File