[edit] Last updated: Mon, 01 Nov 2010

CXVII. W32api Functions

Introduction

This extension is a generic extension API to DLLs. This was originally written to allow access to the Win32 API from PHP, although you can also access other functions exported via other DLLs.

Currently supported types are generic PHP types (strings, booleans, floats, integers and nulls) and types you define with w32api_deftype().

Uyar�

This extension is EXPERIMENTAL. The behaviour of this extension -- including the names of its functions and anything else documented about this extension -- may change without notice in a future release of PHP. Use this extension at your own risk.

Requirements

This extension will only work on Windows systems.

Installation

There is no installation needed to use these functions; they are part of the PHP core.

Runtime Configuration

This extension has no configuration directives defined in php.ini.

Resource Types

This extension defines one resource type, used for user defined types. The name of this resource is "dynaparm".

Predefined Constants

The constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.

DC_MICROSOFT (integer)
DC_BORLAND (integer)
DC_CALL_CDECL (integer)
DC_CALL_STD (integer)
DC_RETVAL_MATH4 (integer)
DC_RETVAL_MATH8 (integer)
DC_CALL_STD_BO (integer)
DC_CALL_STD_MS (integer)
DC_CALL_STD_M8 (integer)
DC_FLAG_ARGPTR (integer)

Examples

This example gets the amount of time the system has been running and displays it in a message box.

�rnek 1. Get the uptime and display it in a message box


<?php

// Define constants needed, taken from

// Visual Studio/Tools/Winapi/WIN32API.txt

define("MB_OK", 0);



// Load the extension in

dl("php_w32api.dll");



// Register the GetTickCount function from kernel32.dll

w32api_register_function("kernel32.dll", 

                         "GetTickCount",

                         "long");

                         

// Register the MessageBoxA function from User32.dll

w32api_register_function("User32.dll",

                         "MessageBoxA",

                         "long");



// Get uptime information

$ticks = GetTickCount();



// Convert it to a nicely displayable text

$secs  = floor($ticks / 1000);

$mins  = floor($secs / 60);

$hours = floor($mins / 60);



$str = sprintf("You have been using your computer for:" .

                "\r\n %d Milliseconds, or \r\n %d Seconds" .

                "or \r\n %d mins or\r\n %d hours %d mins.",

                $ticks,

                $secs,

                $mins,

                $hours,

                $mins - ($hours*60));



// Display a message box with only an OK button and the uptime text

MessageBoxA(NULL, 

            $str, 

            "Uptime Information", 

            MB_OK);

?>

��indekiler
w32api_deftype -- Defines a type for use with other w32api_functions
w32api_init_dtype -- Creates an instance of the data type typename and fills it with the values passed
w32api_invoke_function -- Invokes function funcname with the arguments passed after the function name
w32api_register_function -- Registers function function_name from library with PHP
w32api_set_call_method -- Sets the calling method used

w32api_deftype

vpopmail_set_user_quota

[edit] Last updated: Mon, 01 Nov 2010

add a note User Contributed Notes W32api Functions

sk89q 27-Sep-2007 11:14


The only way I've been able to call Win32 API functions with PHP5 has been through COM and DynamicWrapper.



Get DynamicWrapper at:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Guenter_Born/

WSHBazaar/WSHDynaCall.htm

(remove new line)



Here's an example to play a beep sound with your computer speaker:

<?php

$com = new COM("DynamicWrapper");

$com->Register("KERNEL32.DLL", "Beep", "i=ll", "f=s", "r=l");

$com->Beep(5000, 100);

?>

MagicalTux at FF dot st 16-Feb-2005 08:10


Answer to the note posted by me at nullflux dot com (see below)



The Win32 API *does* work in other versions of PHP than between 4.2.0 and 4.2.3. However the documented functions are not available. You will have to use the "win32" class to access functions. For an example, read Philip Soeberg's post just below.

serdar_soydemir at hotmail dot com 30-May-2004 10:34


It seems that this extension will be replaced by FFI extension in PHP5. FFI stands for "Foreign Function Interface" and it's not limited by Windows API, but also supports Linux APIs. You may reach this extension's website at http://pecl.php.net/package/ffi . For Windows, you may try this code from commandline php.exe:



<?php

dl ("php_ffi.dll");



$windows = new ffi ("[lib='user32.dll'] int MessageBoxA( int handle, char *text, char *caption, int type );" );



echo $windows->MessageBoxA(0, "Message For You", "Hello World", 1);

?>

chris at ramsoft dot biz 18-May-2004 11:46


The win32 support appears to be pretty flaky in php. This of course is to be expected with an experimental extension. That being said, if you are having trouble using the win32 functionality you may want to look into creating a PHP extension instead.



We were having some problems interfacing PHP with a 3rd party dll. As such we created an extension which wraps the interface with the aforementioned dll. The solution was surprisingly quick and painless.

Because we use Delphi primarily we found the following extremely useful and easy to use. http://users.chello.be/ws36637/php4delphi.html#download



more info here:

http://php.us.themoes.org/manual/en/zend.creating.php

me at nullflux dot com 20-Apr-2004 04:27


The w32api extension -does not- work on versions of php that are not between 4.2.0 and 4.2.3. This is mentioned on the individual function's manual pages, but not on the extension's main page. Perhaps I'm just missing something, but if you want to interact with the Win32 API via PHP you have to use an outdated version, or just not bother with it at all.

Philip Soeberg 19-Jan-2004 08:09


In response to post by Jan Kleinsorge.



To get the proper windows system uptime, one should use the Performance Monitoring system... GetTickCount is limited to 49.7 days, as the result is a dword.



<?php

if (!dl("php_w32api.dll")) {

  echo "Unable to load php_w32api.dll";

  exit;

}



$api = new win32;

$api->registerfunction("bool QueryPerformanceCounter (float &lpPerformanceCount) From kernel32.dll");

$api->registerfunction("bool QueryPerformanceFrequency (float &lpPerformanceFrequency) From kernel32.dll");



$api->QueryPerformanceCounter($a);

$api->QueryPerformanceFrequency($b);

$c = $a/$b;

$days = floor($c / 86400);

echo gmstrftime("System uptime is $days Days, %H Hr, %M Min, %S Sec<br>", $c);

?>



The above snippet will return the true uptime for an unlimited time for a windows OS. (Disregarding the fact that windows needs reboot every 10 days or so :))

A tiny dange though is the lack of 64bit variable types in php.. (the "float &lpPerformanceCount" should be "long long &lpPerformanceCount") .. Nevertheless.. It works :)



Philip S.

Jan Kleinsorge 02-Jan-2004 05:55


Or google for "win32.hlp". Almost every API-function is listed in there.

Sami Fouad 12-Dec-2003 09:33


http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/ contains functions for use with this extension. 





Beware! The menu system is very dense, and confusing at first if you don't know where your going. 





Luckily for you I am going to add how to get there in this note. ;)





Windows Development > Development Guides > Windows API > Windows API Reference





Enjoy.

23-Aug-2003 01:42


The small, unofficial documentation is now available here http://wobster.mynnga.de/w32api.txt .

The old link from the post above is dead.



Note that the W32API doesn't seem to be under development anymore. E-Mails to the author stayed unanswered.

If you really have to use it, just some hints here: There are often problems concerning Apache webservers. This extension doesn't seem to work with mod_php.

I used the API on IIS5 with PHP as CGI. Additionally the IUSR_<hostname> (that's the user IIS runs php.exe by default) might need additional rights to be able to call certain API-functions.

silver_dragoon77 at hotmail dot com 27-Jun-2003 12:03


hi



for phpgtk users, who might want to add some sound to their apps, here is the code, assuming ding.wav is in the script's directory



$api = new win32;

$api->registerfunction("long sndPlaySound (string a, int b) From winmm.dll");

$api->sndPlaySound("ding.wav", 0);



you can use the big win32.hlp file containing the win32 api reference to get some other multimedia functions



regards

wobble at gmx dot de 31-Mar-2003 01:09


I played a bit around with the W32API. Here is some code that actually works with the current release of W32API.

The interface changed completely, so all documentation about this extension is out-dated. While the old release

just implemented "plain" functions, the current version offers a class to handle all the API-related operations. 

Additionally, functions are now registered using a SQL-like language with a single string.



<?php



$api = new win32;



/*

     BOOL GetUserName(

        LPTSTR lpBuffer,    // address of name buffer

        LPDWORD nSize       // address of size of name buffer

     );

    Returns the current thread's username

    "&" passes argument as "refrence" not as "copy"

*/

$api->registerfunction("long GetUserName (string &a, int &b) From advapi32.dll");



/*

    DWORD GetTickCount(VOID)

    Returns the ms the OS is running

*/

$api->registerfunction("long GetTickCount () From Kernel32.dll");



$len = 255;                   // set the length your variable should have

$name = str_repeat("\0", $len); // prepare an empty string

if ($api->GetUserName($name, $len) == 0)

{

    die("failed");

}



if (!($time = $api->GetTickCount()))

{

    die("failed");

}



echo "Username: $name<br>\nSystemtime: $time<br>\n";



?>



GOOD LUCK !!



Jan Kleinsorge

arunasphp at anm dot org 06-Aug-2002 01:32


In order to use most (perhaps all?) of the win32 API while running with a web server you have to give the server service permission to interact with the desktop.  This is especially noticeable with the given example, where the script will try to display message boxes on the server's display.



Keep in mind, however, that you should think hard about the consequences of letting a web server interact with your desktop, especially if you're not the only one using the web server.

add a note