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745 lines
28 KiB
HTML
745 lines
28 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>PHP3 Frequently Asked Questions</TITLE>
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<STYLE type="text/css">
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BODY {background: #FFFFFF}
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H1,H2,H3 {color: blue}
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</STYLE>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<H1>PHP3 Frequently Asked Questions</H1>
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<!-- The website should stop chopping. -->
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<P>This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about PHP3 and
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their answers. If you have suggestions or additions, send them to
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<CODE>php3@lists.php.net</CODE>.
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<HR noshade>
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<H2>General Information</H2>
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<DL>
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<DT><B>
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What is PHP3?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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From the <A href="http://www.php.net/manual/">manual</A>:
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>PHP Version 3.0 is an HTML-embedded scripting
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language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a
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couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language
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is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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What is its relation to PHP/FI?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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PHP3 is the successor to PHP/FI 2.0.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Can I run both PHP/FI 2.0 and PHP3 at the same time?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Yes, PHP3 was written so as to not interfere with an existing PHP/FI 2 installation.
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Instructions for building Apache 1.3.0 with both PHP/FI 2 and PHP3 modules can be
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found <a href="php2.php3">HERE</a>.
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<P>
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<DT><B>
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What are the differences between PHP3 and PHP/FI 2.0?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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For a complete list of the changes, read the <A
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href="changes.php3">CHANGES</A> file included in the PHP3
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distribution. Some highlights:
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<UL>
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<LI>All-new parser.
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<LI>Persistent database connections.
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<LI>A native Windows95/NT port.
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<LI>IMAP, SNMP, and LDAP extensions.
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</UL>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I heard it's possible to access Microsoft SQL Server from PHP3. How?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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On Windows 95/NT machines, you can simply use the included ODBC support
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and the correct ODBC driver.
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<P>On Unix machines, you can use the Sybase-CT driver
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to access Microsoft SQL Servers because they are (at
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least mostly) protocol-compatible. Sybase has made a <A
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href="/extra/ctlib-linux-elf.tar.gz">free version of the necessary
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libraries for Linux systems</A>. For other Unix operating systems,
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you need to contact Sybase for the correct libraries (which cost
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money).
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Can I access Microsoft Access databases?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Yes. You already have all the tools you need if you are running
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entirely under Windows 95 or NT, where you can use ODBC and Microsoft's
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ODBC drivers for Microsoft Access databases. From other platforms, you
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would need to have a server running Windows NT (or possibly Windows 95)
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which you connected to using ODBC drivers from your other platform and
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<A href="http://www.openlinksw.com/">OpenLink Software's ODBC Agent</A>
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software, which runs US$4,000.
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<P>Some better alternatives are to use an SQL server that has
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Windows ODBC drivers and use that to store the data, which you can
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then access from Microsoft Access (using ODBC) and PHP3 (using the
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built-in drivers), or to use an intermediary file format that Access
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and PHP3 both understand, such as flat-files or dBase databases.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Is there a PHP3 mailing list?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Of course! To subscribe, send mail to
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<CODE>php3-subscribe@lists.php.net</CODE>. You don't need to include
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anything special in the subject or body of the message.
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<P>To unsubscribe, send mail to <CODE>php3-unsubscribe@lists.php.net</CODE>.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Help! I can't seem to subscribe to the mailing list!
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</B></DT>
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<DT><B>
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Help! I can't seem to unsubscribe from the mailing list!
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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If you have problems subscribing to or unsubscribing from the
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PHP3 mailng list, it may be because the mailing list software
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can't figure out the correct mailing address to use. If
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your email address was <CODE>joeblow@example.com</CODE>,
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you can send your subscription request to
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<CODE>php3-subscribe-joeblow=example.com@lists.php.net</CODE>,
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or your unsubscription request to
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<CODE>php3-unsubscribe-joeblow=example.com@lists.php.net</CODE>.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Is there an archive of the mailing list anywhere?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Yes, it's located at <A
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href="http://www.tryc.on.ca/php3.html">http://www.tryc.on.ca/php3.html</A>.
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</DD>
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</DL>
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<HR noshade>
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<H2>Obtaining PHP3</H2>
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<DL>
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<DT><B>
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Where can I obtain PHP3?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You can download PHP3 from any of the members of the
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PHP3 network of sites. These can be found at <A
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href="http://www.php.net/">http://www.php.net/</A>.
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You can also use anonymous CVS to get the absolute latest
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version of the source. For more information, go to <A
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href="http://ca.php.net/cvsweb.cgi">http://ca.php.net/cvsweb.cgi</A>.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Are pre-compiled binary versions available?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Yes, as long as you're looking for binaries for Windows 95 or NT.
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They're available in the same place as the source.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Where can I get libraries needed to compile some of the optional
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PHP3 extensions?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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<B>Note:</B> Those marked with * are not thread-safe libraries, and
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should not be used with PHP3 as a server module in the multi-threaded
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Windows web servers (IIS, Netscape). This does not matter in Unix
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environments, yet.
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<UL>
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<LI>LDAP* (unix): <A href="ftp://terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu/ldap/ldap-3.3.tar.Z">ftp://terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu/ldap/ldap-3.3.tar.Z</A>
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<LI>LDAP (unix/win): <A HREF="http://developer.netscape.com/tech/directory/downloads.html" TARGET="_top">Netscape Directory (LDAP) SDK 1.1</A>
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There is also a free LDAP server at: <A href="ftp://ftp.critical-angle.com/pub/cai/slapd/">ftp://ftp.critical-angle.com/pub/cai/slapd/</A>.
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<LI>Berkeley DB2 (Unix/Win): <A href="http://www.sleepycat.com/">http://www.sleepycat.com/</A>
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<LI>SNMP* (Unix): <A href="http://www.ece.ucdavis.edu/ucd-snmp/">http://www.ece.ucdavis.edu/ucd-snmp/</A> (Note: PHP3 uses the native SNMP interface in Windows.)
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<LI>GD* (Unix/Win): <A href="http://www.boutell.com/gd/#buildgd">http://www.boutell.com/gd/#buildgd</A>
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<LI>mSQL* (Unix): <A href="http://www.hughes.com.au/">http://www.hughes.com.au/</A>
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<LI>mSQL* (Win) : <A HREF="http://blnet.com/msqlpc/">MSQL PC Home Page</a>
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<LI>MySQL (Unix): <A href="http://www.tcx.se/">http://www.tcx.se/</A>
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<LI>IMAP* (Win/Unix): <A HREF="ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/old/imap-4.tar.Z">ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/old/imap-4.tar.Z</A>
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<LI>Sybase-CT* (Linux, libc5): <A href="/extra/ctlib-linux-elf.tar.gz">Available locally</A>
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<LI>FreeType: <A HREF="http://www.physiol.med.tu-muenchen.de/~robert/freetype.html">http://www.physiol.med.tu-muenchen.de/~robert/freetype.html</A>
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<LI>ZLib (Unix/Win32): <A HREF="http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/">http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/</a>
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</UL>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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How do I get these libraries to work?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You will need to follow instructions provided with the library. Some of
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these libraries are detected automatically when you run the 'configure'
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script of PHP3 (such as the GD library), and others you will have to
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enable using '--with-EXTENSION' options to 'configure'. Run 'configure
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--help' for a listing of these.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I got the latest version of the PHP3 source code from the CVS
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repository on my Windows 95/NT machine, what do I need to compile it?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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First, you will need Microsoft Visual C++ v5 (v4 may do
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it also, but we do it with v5), and you will need to <A
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href="http://www.php.net/win32/makeparser.zip">download Bison and
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Flex</A>. You will need to put Bison and Flex somewhere in your
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path, or add their location to your path. Then run the batch file
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'makeparser' before compiling with MSVC. You also may need to edit
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some settings in the project settings. You should be familier enough
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with MSVC to know what to do ;).
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<P>
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</DD>
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</DL>
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<DT><B>
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Where do I find the Browser Capabilities File?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You can find PHP's own browscap.ini file at <a href="http://php.netvision.net.il/browscap/">http://php.netvision.net.il/browscap/</a>.
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There is also another browscap.ini file at <a href="http://www.cyscape.com/asp/browscap/">http://www.cyscape.com/asp/browscap/</a>.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<HR noshade>
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<H2>Installation</H2>
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<P>To install PHP3, follow the instructions in the <A
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href="http://ca.php.net/cvsweb.cgi/INSTALL?rev=1.18">INSTALL</A>
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file located in the distribution. Windows
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95 and NT users should also read the <A
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href="http://ca.php.net/cvsweb.cgi/README.WIN32?rev=1.3">README.WIN32</A>
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file. There are also some helpful hints for Windows users here:
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<a href="http://leonard.staff.imaginet.fr/Doc/php/configuration_NT.html">
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http://leonard.staff.imaginet.fr/Doc/php/configuration_NT.html</a>.
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<H3>Common Problems</H3>
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<DL>
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<DT><B>
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I got the latest version of PHP3 using the anonymous CVS service,
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but there's no configure script!
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You have to have the GNU autoconf package installed so you can
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generate the configure script from configure.in. Just run
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<CODE>autoconf</CODE> in the top-level directory after getting
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the sources from the CVS server. (Also, unless you run configure
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with the <CODE>--enable-maintainer-mode</CODE> option, the
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configure script will not automatically get rebuilt when the
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configure.in file is updated, so you should make sure to do that
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manually when you notice configure.in has changed. One symptom
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of this is finding things like @VARIABLE@ in your Makefile after
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configure or config.status is run.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I'm having problems configuring PHP3 to work with Apache. It says
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it can't find httpd.h, but it's right where I said it is!
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You need to tell the configure/setup script the location of the
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<EM>top-level</EM> of your Apache source tree. This means that
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you want to specify '<CODE>--with-apache=/path/to/apache</CODE>'
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and <EM>not</EM> '<CODE>--with-apache=/path/to/apache/src</CODE>'.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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When I run configure, it says that it can't find the include files or
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library for GD, gdbm, or some other package!
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You can make the configure script looks for header files and libraries
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in non-standard locations by specifying additional flags to pass to
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the C preprocessor and linker, such as:
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<FONT FACE="monospaced"><PRE>
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CPPFLAGS=-I/path/to/include LDFLAGS=-L/path/to/library ./configure
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</PRE></FONT>
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If you're using a csh-variant for your login shell (why?), it would be:
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<FONT FACE="monospaced"><PRE>
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env CPPFLAGS=-I/path/to/include LDFLAGS=-L/path/to/library ./configure
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</PRE></FONT>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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When it is compiling the file language-parser.tab.c, it gives me errors
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that say 'yytname undeclared'.
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You need to update your version of Bison. You can find the latest version
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at <A href="ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/">ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/</A>.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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When I run 'make', it seems to run fine but then fails when it
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tries to link the final application complaining that it can't find
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some files.
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Some old versions of make that don't correctly put the compiled
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versions of the files in the functions directory into that same
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directory. Try running "<CODE>cp *.o functions</CODE>" and then
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re-running 'make' to see if that helps. If it does, you should really
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upgrade to a recent version of GNU make.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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When linking PHP3, it complains about a number of undefined references.
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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Take a look at the link line and make sure that all of the appropriate
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libraries are being included at the end. Common ones that you might have
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missed are '-ldl' and any libraries required for any database support
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you included.
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<P>
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If you're linking with Apache 1.2.x, did you remember to add the
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appropriate information to the EXTRA_LIBS line of the Configuration
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file and re-rerun Apache's Configure script? See the <A href="http://ca.php.net/cvsweb.cgi/INSTALL?rev=1.18">INSTALL</A> file that
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comes with the distribution for more information.
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<P>
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Some people have also reported that they had to add '-ldl' immediately
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following 'libphp3.a' when linking with Apache.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I can't figure out how to build PHP3 with Apache 1.3.
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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<P>This is actually quite easy. Follow these steps carefully:
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<UL>
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<LI>Grab the latest Apache 1.3 distribution from <A href="http://www.apache.org/dist/">www.apache.org</A>.
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<LI>Ungzip and untar it somewhere, for example /usr/local/src/apache-1.3.
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<LI>Compile PHP3 by first running ./configure --with-apache=/<i><path></i>/apache-1.3 (substitute <i><path></i> for the actual path to your apache-1.3 directory.
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<LI>Type 'make' followed by 'make install' to build PHP3 and copy the
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necessary files to the Apache distribution tree.
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<LI>Change directories into to your /<i><path></i>/apache-1.3/src directory and edit the <i>Configuration</i> file. At the end of the file, add: <tt>AddModule modules/php3/libphp3.a</tt>.
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<LI>Type: './Configure' followed by 'make'.
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<LI>You should now have a PHP3-enabled httpd binary!
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</UL>
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<b>Note:</b> You can also use the new Apache ./configure script. See the instructions in the README.configure file
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which is part of your Apache distribution. Also have a look at the INSTALL file in the PHP distribution.
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<P>
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</DD>
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</DL>
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<HR noshade>
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<H2>Using PHP3</H2>
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<DL>
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<DT><B>
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I would like to write a generic PHP script that can handle data coming
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from any form. How do I know which POST method variables are available?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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You need to compile PHP with the "--enable-track-vars" configure switch.
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This creates three associative arrays. $HTTP_GET_VARS, $HTTP_POST_VARS
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and $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS. So, to write a generic script to handle POST
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method variables you would need something similar to the following:<PRE>
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while (list($var, $value) = each($HTTP_POST_VARS)) {
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echo "$var = $value<br>\n";
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}</PRE>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I need to convert all single-quotes (') to a backslash followed by
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a single-quote. How can I do this with a regular expression?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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First off, take a look at the <A href="manual/function.addslashes.php3">addslashes()</A> function. It will do
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exactly what you want.
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<P>
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The ereg_replace magic you're looking for, however, is simply:<PRE>
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$escaped = ereg_replace("'", "\\'", $input);</PRE>
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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When I do the following, the output is printed in the wrong order:<PRE>
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function myfunc($argument) {
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echo $myfunc + 10;
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}
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$variable = 10;
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echo "myfunc($variable) = " . myfunc($variable);
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</PRE>
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<P>What's going on?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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To be able to use the results of your function in an expression (such
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as concatenating it with other strings in the example above), you need
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to <B>return</B> the value, not echo it.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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Hey, what happened to my newlines in:
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<PRE>
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<PRE>
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1 <?echo $result[1];?>
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2 <?echo $result[2];?>
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</PRE>
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
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In PHP, the ending for a block of code is either "?>" <B>or</B>
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"?>\n" (where \n means a newline). This means that you need to
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insert an extra newline after each block of PHP code in the above
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example.
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<P>
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Why does PHP do this? Because when formatting normal HTML, this
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usually makes your life easier because you don't want that newline,
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but you'd have to create extremely long lines or otherwise make the
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raw page source unreadable to achieve that effect.
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<P>
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</DD>
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<DT><B>
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I need to access information in the request header directly. How can
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I do this?
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</B></DT>
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<DD>
|
|
The getallheaders() function will do this if you are running PHP as a
|
|
module. So, the following bit of code will show you all the request
|
|
headers:<PRE>
|
|
$headers = getallheaders();
|
|
for(reset($headers); $key = key($headers); next($headers)) {
|
|
echo "headers[$key] = ".$headers[$key]."<br>\n";
|
|
}
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
When I try to use authentication with IIS I get 'No Input file specified'
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
The security model of IIS is at fault here. This is a problem
|
|
common to all CGI programs running under IIS. A workaround is
|
|
to create a plain HTML file (not parsed by php) as the entry page
|
|
into an authenticated directory. Then use a META tag to redirect
|
|
to the PHP page, or have a link to the PHP page. PHP will
|
|
then recognize the authentication correctly. When the ISAPI
|
|
module is ready, this will no longer be a problem. This should
|
|
not effect other NT web servers. For more information, see: <A
|
|
href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q160/4/22.asp"
|
|
target="_new">http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q160/4/22.asp</A>.
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
I've followed all the instructions, but still can't get PHP and IIS
|
|
to work together!
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
Make sure any user who needs to run a PHP script has the rights
|
|
to run php.exe! IIS uses an anonymous user which is added at the
|
|
time IIS is installed. This user needs rights to php.exe. Also,
|
|
any authenticated user will also need rights to execute php.exe.
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
</DL>
|
|
|
|
<H3>New Features</H3>
|
|
|
|
<DL>
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
I saw PHP3 offers persistent database connections. What does that mean?
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
Persistent connections are SQL links that do not close when the
|
|
execution of your script ends. When a persistent connection is
|
|
requested, PHP checks if there's already an identical persistent
|
|
connection (that remained open from earlier) - and if it exists, it
|
|
uses it. If it does not exist, it creates the link. An 'identical'
|
|
connection is a connection that was opened to the same host, with
|
|
the same username and the same password (where applicable).
|
|
|
|
<P>People who aren't thoroughly familiar with the way web servers
|
|
work and distribute the load may mistake persistent connects for what
|
|
they're not. In particular, they do <B>not</B> give you an ability
|
|
to open 'user sessions' on the same SQL link, they do <B>not</B>
|
|
give you an ability to build up a transaction efficently, and they
|
|
don't do a whole lot of other things. In fact, to be extremely
|
|
clear about the subject, persistent connections don't give you <B>any</B>
|
|
functionality that wasn't possible with their non-persistent brothers.
|
|
|
|
<P>Why?
|
|
|
|
<P>This has to do with the way web servers work. There are three ways
|
|
in which your web server can utilize PHP to generate web pages.
|
|
|
|
<P>The first method is to use PHP as a CGI "wrapper". When run this
|
|
way, an instance of the PHP interpreter is created and destroyed for
|
|
every page request (for a PHP page) to your web server. Because it
|
|
is destroyed after every request, any resources that it acquires (such
|
|
as a link to an SQL database server) are closed when it is destroyed.
|
|
In this case, you do not gain anything from trying to use persistent
|
|
connections -- they simply don't persist.
|
|
|
|
<P>The second, and most popular, method is to run PHP as a module
|
|
in a <I>multiprocess</I> web server, which currently only includes
|
|
Apache. A multiprocess server typically has one process (the parent)
|
|
which coordinates a set of processes (its children) who actually do
|
|
the work of serving up web pages. When each request comes in from a a
|
|
client, it is handed off to one of the children that is not already
|
|
serving another client. This means that when the same client makes
|
|
a second request to the server, it may be serviced by a different
|
|
child process than the first time. What a persistent connection does
|
|
for you in this case it make it so each child process only needs
|
|
to connect to your SQL server the first time that it serves a page
|
|
that makes us of such a connection. When another page then requires
|
|
a connection to the SQL server, it can reuse the connection that
|
|
child established earlier.
|
|
|
|
<P>The last method is to use PHP as a plug-in for a <I>multithreaded</I>
|
|
web server. Currently this is only theoretical -- PHP does not
|
|
yet work as a plug-in for any multithreaded web servers. Work is
|
|
progressing on support for ISAPI, WSAPI, and NSAPI (on Windows),
|
|
which will all allow PHP to be used as a plug-in on multithreaded
|
|
servers like Netscape FastTrack, Microsoft's Internet Information
|
|
Server (IIS), and O'Reilly's WebSite Pro. When this happens, the
|
|
behavior will be essentially the same as for the multiprocess model
|
|
described before.
|
|
|
|
<P>If persistent connections don't have any added functionality,
|
|
what are they good for?
|
|
|
|
<P>The answer here is extremely simple -- efficiency. Persistent
|
|
connections are good if the overhead to create a link to your SQL
|
|
server is high. Whether or not this overhead is really high depends
|
|
on many factors. Like, what kind of database it is, whether or
|
|
not it sits on the same computer on which your web server sits,
|
|
how loaded the machine the SQL server sits on is and so forth.
|
|
The bottom line is that if that connection overhead is high,
|
|
persistent connections help you considerably. They cause the child
|
|
process to simply connect only once for its entire lifespan, instead
|
|
of every time it processes a page that requires connecting to the
|
|
SQL server. This means that for every child that opened a persistent
|
|
connection will have its own open persistent connection to the server.
|
|
For example, if you had 20 different child processes that ran a script
|
|
that made a persistent connection to your SQL server, you'd have 20
|
|
different connections to the SQL server, one from each child.
|
|
|
|
<P>An important summary. Persistent connections were designed to
|
|
have one-to-one mapping to regular connections. That means that you
|
|
should <B>always</B> be able to replace persistent connections with
|
|
non-persistent connections, and it won't change the way your script
|
|
behaves. It <B>may</B> (and probably will) change the efficiency
|
|
of the script, but not its behavior!
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
</DL>
|
|
|
|
<H3>Common Problems</H3>
|
|
|
|
<DL>
|
|
<DT><b>
|
|
I installed PHP3, but every time I load a document, I get the
|
|
message 'Document Contains No Data'! What's going on here?
|
|
</b></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
This probably means that PHP3 is having some sort of problem
|
|
and is core-dumping. Look in your server error log to see if
|
|
this is the case, and then try to reproduce the problem with
|
|
a small test case. If you know how to use 'gdb', it is very
|
|
helpful when you can provide a backtrace with your bug report
|
|
to help the developers pinpoint the problem.
|
|
<P>
|
|
If your script uses the regular expression functions (<CODE>ereg()</CODE>
|
|
and friends), you should make sure that you compiled PHP3 and
|
|
Apache with the same regular expression package. (This should
|
|
happen automatically with PHP3 and Apache 1.3.)
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
I'm trying to access one of the standard CGI variables (such
|
|
as $DOCUMENT_ROOT or $HTTP_REFERER) in a user-defined function,
|
|
and it can't seem to find it. What's wrong?
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
Environment variables are now normal global variables, so you must
|
|
either declare them as global variables in your function (by using
|
|
"<CODE>global $DOCUMENT_ROOT;</CODE>", for example) or by using
|
|
the global variable array (ie, "<CODE>$GLOBALS["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]</CODE>".
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<TD><B>
|
|
I patched Apache with the FrontPage extensions patch, and suddenly PHP stopped
|
|
working. Is PHP incompatible with the Apache FrontPage extensions?
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
No, PHP works fine with the FrontPage extensions.
|
|
The problem is that the FrontPage patch modifies several Apache structures,
|
|
that PHP relies on.
|
|
Recompiling PHP (using 'make clean ; make') after the FP patch is applied
|
|
would solve the problem.
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
I think I found a bug! Who should I tell?
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
You should go to the PHP Bug Database and make sure the bug
|
|
isn't a known bug. If you don't see it in the database, use
|
|
the reporting form to report the bug. It is important to use
|
|
the bug database instead of just sending an email to one of the
|
|
mailing lists because the bug will have a tracking number assigned
|
|
and it will then be possible for you to go back later and check
|
|
on the status of the bug. The bug database can be found at <A
|
|
href="http://ca.php.net/bugs.php3">http://ca.php.net/bugs.php3</A>.
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
</DL>
|
|
|
|
<HR noshade>
|
|
|
|
<H2>Migrating from PHP/FI 2.0</H2>
|
|
|
|
<H3>Common Problems</H3>
|
|
|
|
<DL>
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
When I add two strings together and then echo it, it echoes zero instead
|
|
of the concatenation of the two strings! What's going on? Wouldn't it
|
|
be great if adding two strings just concatenated them together?
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
PHP3 does not support the overloading of the addition operator for
|
|
strings because values that arrive via the GET and POST methods and
|
|
from databases are always stored as strings. This means that if the
|
|
plus operator were overloaded to concatenate strings, you could add
|
|
what you thought were two numbers and get the wrong result! (For
|
|
example, "4" + "5" would be equal to "45".) One way around this would
|
|
be to explicitly type-cast one or both of the operands, which is what
|
|
PHP/FI 2 did.
|
|
|
|
<P>This has been simplified in PHP3 by the addition of a real string
|
|
concatenation operator. If you want to "add" two strings together,
|
|
just write it like: <CODE>"this" . "that"</CODE> which will result in
|
|
the string "thisthat".
|
|
|
|
<P>The answer to the final part of the question is an emphatic no.
|
|
Operator overloading can be a source of great confusion, especially
|
|
when variables aren't very strongly typed to begin with, as they are
|
|
in PHP3.
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
When I use the chmod(), umask(), or mkdir() functions, the permissions
|
|
are wrong!
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
Unlike PHP/FI 2, PHP3 does not interpret the numeric arguments for
|
|
these functions any differently than for any other function, which
|
|
means you need to pass in an octal value if you are specifying an
|
|
octal number, such as:
|
|
<PRE>
|
|
chmod($myfile, 0600);
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
<B>not</B>
|
|
<PRE>
|
|
chmod($myfile, 600);
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
I converted my script from PHP/FI 2.0 to PHP3 syntax, but now it just
|
|
hangs! When I looked at the processes running on my server, there was
|
|
one process that was chewing up all of the CPU cycles!
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
You probably missed the semi-colon on a <CODE>while
|
|
(condition);</CODE> statement. This will cause PHP3 to spin out of
|
|
control because it is simply executing an empty body for your while
|
|
loop! Change the semi-colon to a colon and it should work correctly.
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
|
|
<DT><B>
|
|
My user-functions don't work any more! I get a "Parse error (expecting '('"
|
|
on the first line of the function.
|
|
</B></DT>
|
|
<DD>
|
|
PHP3's function declaration now resembles C function declarations, so
|
|
your function should look like:
|
|
<PRE>
|
|
function printsum($a, $b) {
|
|
echo $a + $b;
|
|
}
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
<P>You can also use old-style function declarations by use the
|
|
'old_function' designation, like so:
|
|
<PRE>
|
|
old_function printsum $a, $b (
|
|
echo $a + $b;
|
|
);
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
<P>
|
|
</DD>
|
|
</DL>
|
|
|
|
<HR noshade>
|
|
|
|
<H2>Credits</H2>
|
|
|
|
<P>This FAQ was originally written by Jim Winstead. It is currently
|
|
maintained by the PHP Development Team.
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<!-- The website should start chopping again. -->
|
|
|
|
<SMALL>
|
|
<CODE>$Id$</CODE>
|
|
</SMALL>
|
|
|
|
</BODY>
|
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