You've already seen how PHP can be used to interface with Java components and JavaBeans. But here's something you didn't know - PHP can (shock shock! horror horror!) even be used to interface with Microsoft COM objects on the Windows platform. Will this be a happy marriage? Read on to find out.
And that's about it for this week. As you can see, PHP doesn't include hooks for just Java; it also allows you to access Microsoft's COM objects (albeit only on Windows) and use these objects to do all kinds of nifty things. This article examined some of the COM components that are typically available on most systems; however, there's nothing to stop you from buying off-the-shelf components (or rolling your own) and using those components in a PHP script.
In case you're interested in learning more about PHP and COM, consider visiting the documentation on the COM support functions for Windows in the PHP manual, at http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.com.php... and till next time, stay healthy!
Note: All examples in this article have been tested on Windows 95 with Apache 1.3.20 and PHP 4.1.1. Examples are illustrative only, and are not meant for a production environment. Melonfire provides no warranties or support for the source code described in this article. YMMV!
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