COM
在线手册：中文 英文
PHP手册

COM 函数

参见

For further information on COM read the » COM specification or perhaps take a look at Don Box's » Yet Another COM Library (YACL). You might find some additional useful information in our FAQ for PHP 和 COM. If you're thinking of using MS Office applications on the server side, you should read the information here: » Considerations for Server-Side Automation of Office.

Table of Contents

COM
在线手册：中文 英文
PHP手册
PHP手册 - N: COM 函数

用户评论:

eisfux.execbase.de (09-Jun-2010 12:15)

DynamicWrapper|DynaWrap:
(The webpage given below seems to be gone away, too)

The latest dynwrap.dll (created by Michael Hines, Günter Born and Ton Plooy) is available for Win9x and a WinNT:

http://www.borncity.com/web/WSHBazaar1/WSHDynaCall.htm

Gilles Laurent has made an enhanced version which should work with Windows2000 and above:

http://glsft.free.fr/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=47

codeslinger at compsalot dot com (18-Dec-2009 10:59)

it took me awhile to track this down, the website given below is long gone, and it was hard to find the new site, so thought I would post it here.

Here is the current website for DynamicWrapper
http://freenet-homepage.de/gborn/WSHBazaar/WSHDynaCall.htm

DynamicWrapper and WinBinder are dlls which enable php to call windows api's directly.

see notes below for an example of using DynamicWrapper.

It is an interesting alternative to http://www.winbinder.org  which does similar things.

larrywalker at at chelseagroton dot com (02-Sep-2008 04:53)

To run a php script in a background process and pass it you var use

<?php

$WshShell = new COM("WScript.Shell");
$oExec = $WshShell->Run("c:\\xampp\\php\\php.exe

c:\\xampp\\Not_on_Web\\ftptestback.php --user=$username", 7, false);

?>

Works for me.

monica at digitaldesignservices dot com (27-Dec-2007 10:41)

Working with Word 2003 COM object. 

Have you been trying to work with the Word.Application COM and the Word Document would crash and the PHP script would hang? 

Turns out that there is an issue within the Office COM object that doesn't let the web application (IIS, Apache) scripting engine release the object after instancing the COM.  The Service Pack 3 office update claims to remedy this.  Will test and post findings.

Bandorka (12-Dec-2007 04:52)

Guys, I found a way to pass parameters from PHP to Crystal Reports 11 without hanging!!!!

So the problem is the prompt for params dialog:

<?php
$ObjectFactory= New COM("CrystalReports11.ObjectFactory.1");
  $crapp = $ObjectFactory->CreateObject("CrystalDesignRunTime.Application");
  $creport = $crapp->OpenReport($my_report, 1);
 
 
     
$creport->Database->Tables->
Item(1)->ConnectionProperties['User ID'] =  'blablabla';

$creport->Database->Tables->
Item(1)->ConnectionProperties['Password'] = 'blablabla';

$creport->FormulaSyntax = 0;
$creport->RecordSelectionFormula= "{TABLENAME.FIELDNAME}='$USRID'";

//This is it, this avoids the hanging!
$creport->EnableParameterPrompting = 0;

$creport->DiscardSavedData;
$creport->ReadRecords();

//it is essential to assign the param values here after the readrecords otherwise you will not pass anything...

$zz= $creport->ParameterFields(1)->SetCurrentValue(500);
 
 $creport->ExportOptions->DiskFileName=$exp_pdf;
  $creport->ExportOptions->PDFExportAllPages=true;
  $creport->ExportOptions->DestinationType=1;   $creport->ExportOptions->FormatType=31;
  $creport->Export(false);

$creport->ExportOptions->DiskFileName=$exp_xls;
  $creport->ExportOptions->PDFExportAllPages=true;
  $creport->ExportOptions->DestinationType=1;   $creport->ExportOptions->FormatType=29;
  $creport->Export(false);

$len = filesize($exp_pdf);
header("Content-type: application/pdf");
header("Content-Length: $len");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=reportin.pdf");
readfile("reportin.pdf");

//------ Release the variables
$creport = null;
$crapp = null;
$ObjectFactory = null;
?>

Have fun,
Andras

tomfmason at nospam-gmail dot com (08-Oct-2007 03:26)

To get the cpu load percentage you can do something like this.

<?php
$wmi = new COM('winmgmts://');
$processor = $wmi->ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor");
foreach($processor as $obj){
    $cpu_load_time = $obj->LoadPercentage;
}
echo $cpu_load_time;
?>

reference http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394373.aspx

To list current apache instances

<?php
$wmi = new COM('winmgmts://');
$processes = $wmi->ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'httpd.exe'");
foreach($processes as $process){
    echo $process->CommandLine . "<br />";
    echo $process->ProcessId . "<br />";
}
?>

reference http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394372.aspx

To run a php script in a background process

<?php
$dir = "C:\\path\\to\\dir";
$php_path = "C:\\path\\to\\php.exe";
$file = "somescript.php";
//send time current timestamp
$cmd_options = "-t " . time();
$wscript = new COM('WScript.Shell');
$wscript->Run("cmd /K CD $php_path $dir\\$file  &  ", 0, false);
?>

Enjoy

Tom

sk89q (28-Sep-2007 07:13)

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

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);
?>

naveed at php dot net (10-Mar-2007 01:24)

Here is a spell check implementation that displays the suggestion list for each misspelled word.

<?php
function SpellCheck($input)
{
    $word=new COM("word.application") or die("Cannot create Word object");
    $word->Visible=false;
    $word->WindowState=2;
    $word->DisplayAlerts=false;
    $doc=$word->Documents->Add();
    $doc->Content=$input;
    $doc->CheckSpelling();
    $result= $doc->SpellingErrors->Count;
    if($result!=0)
    {
        echo "Input text contains misspelled words.\n\n";
        for($i=1; $i <= $result; $i++)
        {       
            echo "Original Word: " .$doc->SpellingErrors[$i]->Text."\n";
            $list=$doc->SpellingErrors[$i]->GetSpellingSuggestions();
            echo "Suggestions: ";
            for($j=1; $j <= $list->Count; $j++)
            {
                $correct=$list->Item($j);
                echo $correct->Name.",";
            }
            echo "\n\n";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        echo "No spelling mistakes found.";
    }
    $word->ActiveDocument->Close(false);
    $word->Quit();
    $word->Release();
    $word=null;
}

$str="Hellu world. There is a spellling error in this sentence.";
SpellCheck($str);
?>

Francois-R dot Boyer at PolyMtl dot ca (14-Feb-2007 04:32)

I had the problem when trying to call Access VBA scripts from PHP; the call was working but Access would never quit.  The problem was that the Apache server is running as SYSTEM, and not a user we normally use to run Office.  And as the first time a user runs Office, it asked the SYSTEM user to enter its name and initials! ;-)

To correct this problem: Stop Apache, go to Services, Apache, Properties, "Log On" tab, and check "Allow service to interact with desktop.  Restart Apache, then open your office application, in a page loaded by the Apache server, with a small PHP code like this, :

<?php
$app = new COM("Access.Application"); // or Word.Application or Excel.Application ...
$app->Visible = true; // so that we see the window on screen
?>

Put the name you want and quit the application.  Now your Office application should terminate correctly the next time you load it with a COM object in PHP.  You can stop Apache uncheck the "Allow service to interact with desktop", and restart Apache if you like.  I don't even require a Quit or anything to be sent to Access, it quits automatically when PHP terminates.

And for those who wish to know how I'm calling Access VBA scripts, instead of using ODBC or any other way to send SQL requests, which does not seem to work to call VBA scripts, I open the database as a COM object and it works fine:

<?php
$db_com = new COM("pathname of the file.mdb");
$result = $db_com->Application->Run("function_name", 'param1', 'param2', '...');
?>

wiliamfeijo at gmail dot com (05-Feb-2007 08:10)

This code use a Crystal Reports file with a connection on
 Oracle 9i Database, suports manipulate and refresh data
 and export to PDF file:

------ REMEMBER ------
These functions are only available if you had instaled the
Crystal Reports Developer Edition. Catch the trial on the
http://www.businessobjects.com web site.

<?php
//------  Variables ------
$my_report = "C:\\rel_apontamento.rpt";
$my_pdf = "C:\\teste.pdf";

//------ Create a new COM Object of Crytal Reports XI ------
$ObjectFactory= new
 COM("CrystalReports11.ObjectFactory.1");

//------ Create a instance of library Application -------
$crapp
=$ObjectFactory->
CreateObject("CrystalDesignRunTime.Application.11");

//------ Open your rpt file ------
$creport = $crapp->OpenReport($my_report, 1);

//------ Connect to Oracle 9i DataBase ------
$crapp->LogOnServer('crdb_oracle.dll','YOUR_TNS',
'YOUR_TABLE','YOUR_LOGIN','YOUR_PASSWORD');

//------ Put the values that you want --------
$creport->RecordSelectionFormula=
"{YOUR_TABLE.FIELD}='ANY_VALUE'";

//------ This is very important. DiscardSavedData make a
 Refresh in your data -------
$creport->DiscardSavedData;

//------ Read the records :-P -------
$creport->ReadRecords();

//------ Export to PDF -------
$creport->ExportOptions->DiskFileName=$my_pdf;
$creport->ExportOptions->FormatType=31;
$creport->ExportOptions->DestinationType=1;
$creport->Export(false);

//------ Release the variables
$creport = null;
$crapp = null;
$ObjectFactory = null;
?>

It's functional and perfectly !!!!!!!

Thanks.....

(03-Oct-2006 12:11)

If someone want to get a COM object out of a DCOM object can do something like that:

<?php
  $dcom_obj = new COM('dacom.object','remotehost') or die("Unable to get DCOM object!");
  $com_obj = new Variant(NULL);
  $dcom_obj->Get_Module($com_obj); //user function which returns a custom IDispatch (casted as variant*)
?>

Hopefully this will help someone, because it took me quite long to figure this out.

kiotech at hotmail dot com (18-Jul-2006 02:35)

For use parameters with PHP this is a Code Example

<?php
$ObjectFactory= New COM("CrystalReports11.ObjectFactory.1");
  $crapp = $ObjectFactory->CreateObject("CrystalDesignRunTime.Application");
  $creport = $crapp->OpenReport("//report1.rpt", 1);

  
      $z= $creport->ParameterFields(1)->SetCurrentValue("Mango");
      $z= $creport->ParameterFields(2)->SetCurrentValue(5000);

  $creport->ExportOptions->DiskFileName="reportin.pdf";
  $creport->ExportOptions->PDFExportAllPages=true;
  $creport->ExportOptions->DestinationType=1;   $creport->ExportOptions->FormatType=31;
  $creport->Export(false);

$len = filesize("reportin.pdf");
header("Content-type: application/pdf");
header("Content-Length: $len");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=reportin.pdf");
readfile("reportin.pdf");
?>

a dot kulikov at pool4tool dot com (13-Mar-2006 05:36)

In case you are wondering how to group rows or columns in the freshly created EXCEL files, then this may help you

<?php
   /***
    * Grouping Rows optically in Excel Using a COM Object
    *
    * That was not easy, I have spent several hours of trial and error to get
    * this thing to work!!!
    *
    * @author Kulikov Alexey <a.kulikov@gmail.com>
    * @since  13.03.2006
    *
    * @see    Open Excel, Hit Alt+F11, thne Hit F2 -- this is your COM bible
    ***/

   //starting excel
   $excel = new COM("excel.application") or die("Unable to instanciate excel");
   print "Loaded excel, version {$excel->Version}\n";

   //bring it to front
   #$excel->Visible = 1;//NOT

   //dont want alerts ... run silent
   $excel->DisplayAlerts = 0;

   //create a new workbook
   $wkb = $excel->Workbooks->Add();

   //select the default sheet
   $sheet=$wkb->Worksheets(1);

   //make it the active sheet
   $sheet->activate;

   //fill it with some bogus data
   for($row=1;$row<=7;$row++){
       for ($col=1;$col<=5;$col++){

          $sheet->activate;
          $cell=$sheet->Cells($row,$col);
          $cell->Activate;
          $cell->value = 'pool4tool 4eva ' . $row . ' ' . $col . ' ak';
       }//end of colcount for loop
   }

   ///////////
   // Select Rows 2 to 5
   $r = $sheet->Range("2:5")->Rows;

   // group them baby, yeah
   $r->Cells->Group;

   // save the new file
   $strPath = 'tfile.xls';
   if (file_exists($strPath)) {unlink($strPath);}
   $wkb->SaveAs($strPath);

   //close the book
   $wkb->Close(false);
   $excel->Workbooks->Close();

   //free up the RAM
   unset($sheet);

   //closing excel
   $excel->Quit();

   //free the object
   $excel = null;
?>

Pedro Heliodoro (05-Mar-2006 10:38)

Using the Windows Media Player OCX and the latest snap of PHP 5.1 i was able to eject a CD-ROM drive

<?php
//create an instance of Windows Media Player
$mp = new COM("WMPlayer.OCX");
//ejects the first cd-rom on the drive list
$mp->cdromcollection->item(0)->eject();

?>

vedanta dot barooah at gmail dot com (29-Jan-2006 03:59)

Microsoft provides two binaries to create windows services: INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE, using these php scripts can be run as windows services.

More information is available at: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=137890

sadi at unicornsoftbd dot com (17-Nov-2005 12:18)

There's no way to use static dlls in php. only way to use a dll in php is to make it a com object first and then using it in php like this

<?php
$NewCom=new COM("uni.example");
?>

once we created the COM object this can be used like any other php classes.
                       sadi
                       www.unicornsoftbd.com

allan666 at gmail dot com (29-Sep-2005 11:37)

If you are using a COM object that opens windows or dialogs (like Office applications), those windows or dialogs will not appear and will stay invisible even if you use codes like    

$word->visible = true;

To solve this problem, go to the web service properties (Administrative Tools) and click (in the Logon TAB) "Allow the Service to Iterate with desktop".

This explain lots of problems to close applications. When you try to close, the dialos asking to save the file must appear, but only in the option to iterate with desktop is on.

Hope it helps.

dazb@localhost (26-May-2005 09:53)

For permissions problems, etc. including "Could Not Open Macro Storage" with Word;
How To Configure Office Applications to Run Under the Interactive User Account

http://theether.net/download/Microsoft/kb/288366.html

[EDITOR NOTE: As reported by "damir@example", the link originally provided in this note is dead. The note was updated with a new link sent from "damir". - Editor thiago AT php DOT net]

mpg123 at thinstall dot com (09-May-2005 09:21)

I found the lack of good online docs about how to access a windows environment very frustrating.  I finally found something here: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92358 but it's a php4 way.  I cleaned up the code, added introspection for methods and voila.  Thanks and credit to the original posters.

<?php
// php translation of asp script by Bill Wooten from
// http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/082802-1.shtml
function showServices($vComputerName, $vClass)  {
    $objLocator = new COM("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator");

    if($vComputerName == "") $objService = $objLocator->ConnectServer();
    else                     $objService = $objLocator->ConnectServer($vComputerName);

    $objWEBM = $objService->Get($vClass);
    $objProp = $objWEBM->Properties_;
    $objMeth = $objWEBM->Methods_;

    foreach($objMeth as $methItem) echo "Method: " . $methItem->Name ."\r\n";

    echo "\r\n";

    $objWEBMCol = $objWEBM->Instances_();

    foreach($objWEBMCol as $objItem) {

        echo "[" . $objItem->Name . "]\r\n";

        foreach($objProp as $propItem) {
           $tmp = $propItem->Name;
           echo "$tmp: " . $objItem->$tmp . "\r\n";
        }

         echo "\r\n";
    }
}

// Test the function:
showServices("", "Win32_Processor");
showServices("", "Win32_LogicalDisk");

angelo [at] mandato <dot> com (25-Apr-2005 05:11)

ADO + PHP5 + SQL DATE FIELDS

Using a COM("ADODB.Connection") object in PHP4 and PHP5 to return date fields in databases will have different results.

In PHP4, the date is returned as a string as represented in the database.  In my case, '2005-04-11 11:35:44'.

In PHP5, the date is returned as a VARIANT type, when printed or implicitly casted would result as '4/11/2005 11:35:44 AM'.

For this example, the solution is to use the variant conversion function variant_date_to_timestamp() to convert the value to a Unix timestamp.

Please refer to this as an example.  Other date types may be converted using one of the other variant_<convert> functions.

bruce at yourweb dot com dot au (24-Apr-2005 01:47)

Simple convert xls to csv
<?php
// starting excel
$excel = new COM("excel.application") or die("Unable to instanciate excel");
print "Loaded excel, version {$excel->Version}\n";

//bring it to front
#$excel->Visible = 1;//NOT
//dont want alerts ... run silent
$excel->DisplayAlerts = 0;

//open  document
$excel->Workbooks->Open("C:\\mydir\\myfile.xls");
//XlFileFormat.xlcsv file format is 6
//saveas command (file,format ......)
$excel->Workbooks[1]->SaveAs("c:\\mydir\\myfile.csv",6);

//closing excel
$excel->Quit();

//free the object
$excel->Release();
$excel = null;
?>

Jack dot CHLiang at gmail dot com (11-Apr-2005 06:02)

If you want to search an Excel file and don't connect with ODBC, you can try the function I provide. It will search a keyword in the Excel find and return its sheet name, text, field and the row which found the keyword.

<?php

// The example of print out the result
$result = array();
searchEXL("C:/test.xls", "test", $result);

foreach($result as $sheet => $rs){
    echo "Found at $sheet";
   
    echo "<table width=\"100%\" border=\"1\"><tr>";
   
    for($i = 0; $i < count($rs["FIELD"]); $i++)
        echo "<th>" . $rs["FIELD"][$i] . "</th>";
   
    echo "</tr>";
   
    for($i = 0; $i < count($rs["TEXT"]); $i++) {
        echo "<tr>";
       
        for($j = 0; $j < count($rs["FIELD"]); $j++)
            echo "<td>" . $rs["ROW"][$i][$j] . "</td>";
               
        echo "</tr>";
    }
    echo "</table>";

}

/**
 * @param $file string The excel file path
 * @param $keyword string The keyword
 * @param $result array The search result
 */

function searchEXL($file, $keyword, &$result) {
       $exlObj = new COM("Excel.Application") or Die ("Did not connect");
       $exlObj->Workbooks->Open($file);
       $exlBook = $exlObj->ActiveWorkBook;
       $exlSheets = $exlBook->Sheets;
  
       for($i = 1; $i <= $exlSheets->Count; $i++) {
           $exlSheet = $exlBook->WorkSheets($i);
      
           $sheetName = $exlSheet->Name;
      
           if($exlRange = $exlSheet->Cells->Find($keyword)) {
            $col = 1;
            while($fields = $exlSheet->Cells(1, $col)) {
                        if($fields->Text == "")
                    break;
                   
                $result[$sheetName]["FIELD"][] = $fields->Text;
                $col++;           
            }
       
            $firstAddress = $exlRange->Address;
            $finding = 1;           
            $result[$sheetName]["TEXT"][] = $exlRange->Text;
           
            for($j = 1; $j <= count($result[$sheetName]["FIELD"]); $j++) {
                $cell = $exlSheet->Cells($exlRange->Row ,$j);
                $result[$sheetName]["ROW"][$finding - 1][$j - 1] = $cell->Text;
            }

            while($exlRange = $exlRange->Cells->Find($keyword)) {
                   if($exlRange->Address == $firstAddress)
                    break;           
           
                $finding++;
                $result[$sheetName]["TEXT"][] = $exlRange->Text;
               
                for($j = 1; $j <= count($result[$sheetName]["FIELD"]); $j++) {
                    $cell = $exlSheet->Cells($exlRange->Row ,$j);
                    $result[$sheetName]["ROW"][$finding - 1][$j - 1] = $cell->Text;
                }
               
            }
                    
           }
      
    }
  
   $exlBook->Close(false);
   unset($exlSheets);
   $exlObj->Workbooks->Close();
   unset($exlBook);
   $exlObj->Quit;
   unset($exlObj);
}
?>

For more information, please visit my blog site (written in Chinese)
http://www.microsmile.idv.tw/blog/index.php?p=77

Gianluca GIMIGLIANO (13-Mar-2005 05:17)

NOTE: Using COM with windows XP with apache as a service
 - Compact a Microsoft Access Database
Be careful $sourceFile and $destFile cannot be the same and $destFile must be unexistent

<?php
Function CompactMSAccess($sourceFile,$destFile) {
$com = new COM("JRO.JetEngine");
$com->CompactDatabase("Data Source=$sourceFile",
"Data Source=$destFile");
$com->Release();   
$com=null;
return is_file($destFile);
//if $destFile exists it's a compact DB
}   

CompactMSAccess('C:\directory\source.mdb',
'C:\directory\compact.mdb');
?>

michael at example dot com (23-Feb-2005 08:42)

After alot of trouble with IIS 6/Windows 2003 and PHP 5.0.2 I figured out how to use Imagemagick COM+/OLE interface. Seems you have to recreate the COM object after each convert() otherwise it will sometimes fail with very strange errors, since the PHP COM interface is not as stable as the old ASP one apparently is.

pelegk2 at walla DOT co DOT il (13-Feb-2005 04:49)

Printing to a network printer :
read this note for :

NOTE: Using COM with windows NT/2000/XP with apache as a service
- Run dcomcnfg.exe
- Find word application and click properties
- Click the Security tab
- Use Custom Access Permissions
- Add the user who runs the web server service
- Use Custom Launch permissions
- Add the user who runs the web server service

THEN

<?php
// starting word
$word = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instanciate Word");
print "Loaded Word, version {$word->Version}\n";

// bring it to front
$word->Visible = 1;
//this is for example a printer on my network
$word->ActivePrinter = "\\\\192.168.4.201\\printer1";

// Open a word document, or anything else that word
// can read
$input ="c:\\test.html";
$word->Documents->Open($input);

$word->ActiveDocument->PrintOut();

// closing word
$word->Documents[1]->Close(false);
$word->Quit();

// free the object
$word->Release();
$word = null;
unset($word);
?>

(06-Jan-2005 05:11)

if you want to add a new hyperlink with excel :

<?php
$cell=$sheet->Range('O'.$j);
$cell->Hyperlinks->Add($cell ,'here_your_file');
?>

I write this note because is very difficult to find
the good method to do that .

Merci beaucoup

sorin dot andrei at mymail dot ro (25-Sep-2004 10:24)

[Editor's Note:
Serializing the object, storing it and then (on the next page) unserializing it WILL work.
End Note]

the big problem for PHP is it can't save in session an COM object

an samples code is here. This works just first time, then give the error:
Call to undefined method com::Refresh() on line  $mMap->Refresh();
the reson is he can't save the object $mMap in session

<?php
    session_start();
      if (isset($_SESSION['map'])) {
            $mMap = $_SESSION['map'];
        }
        else
        {
        $ArcIMSConnector = new COM ("aims.ArcIMSConnector")  or die("can not create AIMS message object");
            echo "Loaded ArcIMSConnector, <br>";
            $ArcIMSConnector->ServerName = "map.sdsu.edu";
            $ArcIMSConnector->ServerPort = 5300;

            $mMap = new COM ("aims.Map")  or die("can not create aims.Map message object");
            echo "Loaded aims.Map, <br>";
            print "AIMS-ServerName= $ArcIMSConnector->ServerName <br>";

            $resultInit= $mMap->InitMap($ArcIMSConnector,"Worldgeography");

            $mMap->Width    = 400;            //                                'Width of the map in pixels
            $mMap->Height   = 300;            //                                'Height of the map in pixels
            $mMap->BackColor = 15130848;
            $_SESSION['map'] = $mMap;
        }

    $resultRefresh = $mMap->Refresh();                                //Refresh the map
    $urlImage      = $mMap->GetImageAsUrl();
    print "<br>urlImage=$urlImage<br>";

    print "<br><IMG SRC='$urlImage'>";

/*
    $ArcIMSConnector->Release();
    $ArcIMSConnector = null;

    $mMap->Release();
    $mMap = null;
*/

?>

ferozzahid [at] usa [dot] com (24-Aug-2004 08:06)

To pass a parameter by reference to a COM function, you need to pass VARIANT to it. Common data types like integers and strings will not work for it.

As an example, calling a function that retrieves the name of a person will look like:

<?php
$Name = new VARIANT;

$comobj = new COM("MyCOMOBj.Component") or die("Couldn't create the COM Component");

if(!$comobj->GetName($Name)) {
    echo("Could not retrieve name");
}
else {
    echo("The name retrieved is : " . $Name->value);
}
?>

$Name->type will contain the type of the value stored in the VARIANT e.g. VT_BSTR.

Note For PHP 5:

Insted of '$Name->value', we can use only '$Name' for getting the value stored in the VARIANT. To get the type of the value stored in the VARIANT, use 'variant_get_type($Name)'.

Feroz Zahid

Shawn Coppock (11-Aug-2004 09:15)

For those of us that are not experts with object models, if you have Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word available, go into the Visual Basic Editor (Alt+F11). Now you can open the object browser window (F2) and see what you find.

If you select "Word" in the object browser, then the classes and members of that class are displayed below. For example, if you click on "Selection" in the classes column, and then "Font" in the members column, you will then see "Property Font As Font Member of Word.Selection" displayed at the bottom. Click on the "Font" link there.

Click on Word "Selection" again in the classes column, and then "PageSetup" in the members column, you will then see "Property PageSetup As PageSetup Member of word.Selection" displayed at the bottom. Click on the "PageSetup" link there.

Using the above examples, you can now formulate your Word Document from php. Here is a simple example that creates a 1 & 1/2" space for text based on the margin settings & with dark red text and an 8pt Helvetica font face:

<?php
$content = "Insert Sample Text Here\n\nThis starts a new paragraph line.";
$word= new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to create Word document");
print "Loaded Word, version {$word->Version}\n";
$word->Visible = 0;
$word->Documents->Add();
$word->Selection->PageSetup->LeftMargin = '3"';
$word->Selection->PageSetup->RightMargin = '4"';
$word->Selection->Font->Name = 'Helvetica';
$word->Selection->Font->Size = 8;
$word->Selection->Font->ColorIndex= 13; //wdDarkRed = 13
$word->Selection->TypeText("$content");
$word->Documents[1]->SaveAs("some_tst.doc");
$word->quit();
echo "done";
?>

This example (and others) worked for me with Microsoft Word 10.0 Object Library (MS Word 2002), Apache & PHP on Windows XP. Experimenting using the Visual Basic editor will yield some amazing documents from PHP as it will help you see the relationships of the objects used and give you an idea as to how to construct your code. But be prepared for an occaisional PHP.exe crash if your code is way off base.

Hope this helps!

Jason Neal (21-Jul-2004 08:48)

If you are having issues with the outlook.application locking up when you try to access it, ensure that your apache server is running in the context of a user on the machine instead of the system account.

angelo [at] mandato <dot> com (03-Jun-2004 07:37)

Useful PHP MSWord class I created to do some simple file conversions.  This class could have a lot more to it but I am not familiar with all the COM MS Word function calls.
<?php
    // msword.inc.php
   
    // NOTE: Using COM with windows NT/2000/XP with apache as a service
    // - Run dcomcnfg.exe
    // - Find word application and click properties
    // - Click the Security tab
    // - Use Custom Access Permissions
    //      - Add the user who runs the web server service
    // - Use Custom Launch permissions
    //      - Add the user who runs the web server service
   
    $wdFormatDocument = 0;
    $wdFormatTemplate = 1;
    $wdFormatText = 2;
    $wdFormatTextLineBreaks = 3;
    $wdFormatDOSText = 4;
    $wdFormatDOSTextLineBreaks = 5;
    $wdFormatRTF = 6;
    $wdFormatUnicodeText = 7;
    $wdFormatHTML=8;

    class MSWord
    {
        // Vars:
        var $handle;
       
        // Create COM instance to word
        function MSWord($Visible = false)
        {
            $this->handle = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instanciate Word");
            $this->handle->Visible = $Visible;
        }
       
        // Open existing document
        function Open($File)
        {
            $this->handle->Documents->Open($File);
        }
       
        // Create new document
        function NewDocument()
        {
            $this->handle->Documents->Add();
        }
       
        // Write text to active document
        function WriteText( $Text )
        {
            $this->handle->Selection->Typetext( $Text );
        }
       
        // Number of documents open
        function DocumentCount()
        {
            return $this->handle->Documents->Count;
        }
       
        // Save document as another file and/or format
        function SaveAs($File, $Format = 0 )
        {
            $this->handle->ActiveDocument->SaveAs($File, $Format);
        }
       
        // Save active document
        function Save()
        {
            $this->handle->ActiveDocument->Save();
        }
       
        // close active document.
        function Close()
        {
            $this->handle->ActiveDocument->Close();
        }
       
        // Get word version
        function GetVersion()
        {
            return $this->handle->Version;
        }
       
        // get handle to word
        function GetHandle()
        {
            return $this->handle;
        }
   
        // Clean up instance with word
        function Quit()
        {
            if( $this->handle )
            {
                // close word
                $this->handle->Quit();
   
                // free the object
                $this->handle->Release();
                $this->handle = null;
            }
        }
    };

?>

Example 1, opens an html file, writes text to it, then saves it as a document:
<?php
    $input = "C:\\test.htm";
    $output = "C:\\test.doc";

    $Word = new MSWord;
    $Word->Open($input);
    $Word->WriteText("This is a test ");
    $Word->SaveAs($output);
    $Word->Quit();
?>

Example 2, opens an html file, then saves it as a rtf file:
<?php
    $input = "C:\\test.htm";
    $output = "C:\\test.rtf";

    $Word = new MSWord;
    $Word->Open($input);
    $Word->SaveAs($output, $wdFormatRTF);
    $Word->Quit();
?>

angelo [at] mandato <dot> com (19-May-2004 12:30)

Useful PHP functions I created (similar to other standard PHP database functions) for working with an ADO datasource:
<?php
    // ado.inc.php
   
    $ADO_NUM = 1;
    $ADO_ASSOC = 2;
    $ADO_BOTH = 3;
   
    function ado_connect( $dsn )
    {
        $link = new COM("ADODB.Connection");
        $link->Open($dsn);
        return $link;
    }
   
    function ado_close( $link )
    {
        $link->Close();
    }
   
    function ado_num_fields( $rs )
    {
        return $rs->Fields->Count;
    }
   
    function ado_error($link)
    {
        return $link->Errors[$link->Errors->Count-1]->Number;
    }
   
    function ado_errormsg($link)
    {
        return $link->Errors[$link->Errors->Count-1]->Description;
    }
   
    function ado_fetch_array( $rs, $result_type,  $row_number = -1 )
    {
        global $ADO_NUM, $ADO_ASSOC, $ADO_BOTH;
        if( $row_number > -1 ) // Defined in adoint.h - adBookmarkFirst    = 1
            $rs->Move( $row_number, 1 );
       
        if( $rs->EOF )
            return false;
       
        $ToReturn = array();
        for( $x = 0; $x < ado_num_fields($rs); $x++ )
        {
            if( $result_type == $ADO_NUM || $result_type == $ADO_BOTH )
                $ToReturn[ $x ] = $rs->Fields[$x]->Value;
            if( $result_type == $ADO_ASSOC || $result_type == $ADO_BOTH )
                $ToReturn[ $rs->Fields[$x]->Name ] = $rs->Fields[$x]->Value;
        }
        $rs->MoveNext();
        return $ToReturn;
    }
   
    function ado_num_rows( $rs )
    {
        return $rs->RecordCount;
    }
   
    function ado_free_result( $rs )
    {
        $rs->Close();
    }
   
    function ado_query( $link, $query )
    {
        return $link->Execute($query);
    }
   
    function ado_fetch_assoc( $rs,  $row_number = -1 )
    {
        global $ADO_ASSOC;
        return  ado_fetch_array( $rs, $ADO_ASSOC, $row_number);
    }
   
    function ado_fetch_row( $rs,  $row_number = -1 )
    {
        global $ADO_NUM;
        return ado_fetch_array( $rs, $ADO_NUM, $row_number);
    }
   
    // Extra functions:
    function ado_field_len( $rs, $field_number )
    {
        return $rs->Fields[$field_number]->Precision;
    }
   
    function ado_field_name( $rs, $field_number )
    {
        return $rs->Fields[$field_number]->Name;
    }
   
    function ado_field_scale( $rs, $field_number )
    {
        return $rs->Fields[$field_number]->NumericScale;
    }
   
    function ado_field_type( $rs, $field_number )
    {
        return $rs->Fields[$field_number]->Type;
    }
   
?>

The aod version was a typo.

markshane1 at fuse dot net (11-May-2004 12:41)

Here is a COM function that creates an excel spreadsheet with any number of worksheets, containing data from a matching number of SQL queries.  Be ware of the upper limit of excel worksheets.  This function properly shuts down Excel on the server. 

<?php
/***************************/
    function WriteExcel($strPath,$astrSheetName,$astrSQL){
/* This function takes a file save path, and array of sheet names and a corresponding array */
/* of SQL queries for each sheet and created a multi-worksheet excel spreadsheet*/
    $C_NAME=__CLASS__."::".__FUNCTION__;
        $dbs=new clsDB;
        $exapp = new COM("Excel.Application") or Die ("Did not connect");
        $intSheetCount=count($astrSheetName);
        $wkb=$exapp->Workbooks->Add();   
            $exapp->Application->Visible = 1;
        for ($int=0;$int<$intSheetCount;$int++){
            $sheet=$wkb->Worksheets($int+1);
            $sheet->activate;
            $sheet->Name=$astrSheetName[$int];
            $intRow=1;
            $qrySQL=$dbs->GetQry($astrSQL[$int],$C_NAME,__LINE__);
            $rstSQL=$qrySQL->fetchRow(DB_FETCHMODE_ASSOC);
            $astrKeyNames=array_keys($rstSQL);
            $intCols=count($astrKeyNames);
            $qrySQL=$dbs->GetQry($astrSQL[$int],$C_NAME,__LINE__);
            while($rstSQL=$qrySQL->fetchRow(DB_FETCHMODE_ASSOC)){
                $strOut="";//initialize the output string
                for ($int2=0;$int2<$intCols;$int2++){//we start at 1 because don't want to output the table's index
                    if($intRow==1){
                        $strOut=$astrKeyNames[$int2];
                    }else{
                        $strOut=$rstSQL[$astrKeyNames[$int2]];
                    }
                        $sheet->activate;
                        $cell=$sheet->Cells($intRow,($int2+1));//->activate;
                        $cell->Activate;
                          $cell->value = $strOut;
                    }//end of colcount for loop
                $intRow++;
            }//end while loop
        }//end sheetcount for loop
        if (file_exists($strPath)) {unlink($strPath);}
        $wkb->SaveAs($strPath);
        $wkb->Close(false);
        unset($sheet);
        $exapp->Workbooks->Close(false);
        unset($wkb);
        $exapp->Quit;
        unset($exapp);
        unset($dbs);
    }//function WriteExcel
?>

Haseldow (05-Apr-2004 01:31)

Simple example for creating your own dll's which can be called as COM objects in PHP:

First create your ActiveX dll (Visual Basic):
Name your project as "foo" and class as "bar".

'---start VB code---
Public Function hello() As String
    hello = "Hello World!"
End Function
'---end VB code---

Then make the dll and register it with regsvr32.exe

Now create your PHP script:

<?php
$obj = new COM("foo.bar");
$output=$obj->hello(); // Call the "hello()" method
echo $output; // Displays Hello World! (so this comes from the dll!)
?>

mark dickens at mindspring dot com (29-Feb-2004 04:03)

Just a note to those wanting to use COM to interface to printers under Windows 2000/XP.  If it doesn't work or seems to hang, try changing the logon identity under which the Apache (assuming you're using Apache) service is running from the System account to another account.  By default most services will install to run under the System account and although the System account has total authority on the computer it is running on, it has no authority outside of that realm as I understand it.  Apparently accessing printers is considered "outside the realm".  I used this technique to interface a Dymo thermal label printer to my server and it works now.

platiumstar at canada dot com (12-Feb-2004 11:08)

I didn't found any working examples of PHP using the MSMQ COM object, so I made up one, thought I share it with everybody..it works ok.
You have to create a local Public message queue named "TestQueue" first.

<?php
define(MQ_SEND_ACCESS , 2);
define(MQ_DENY_NONE , 0);

$msgQueueInfo =  new COM("MSMQ.MSMQQueueInfo") or die("can not create MSMQ Info object");
$msgQueueInfo->PathName = ".\TestQueue";
       
$msgQueue =  new COM("MSMQ.MSMQQueue") or die("can not create MSMQ object");
$msgQueue=$msgQueueInfo->Open(MQ_SEND_ACCESS, MQ_DENY_NONE );
       
$msgOut = new COM("MSMQ.MSMQMessage") or die("can not create MSMQ message object");               
$msgOut->Body = "Hello world!";
$msgOut->Send($msgQueue);
       
$msgQueue->Close();       
unset($msgOut);
unset($msgQueue);
unset($msgQueueInfo);
?>

enjoy
PS

kleontiv -at- combellga -dot- ru (15-Dec-2003 07:47)

And here is an example of using ADSI via ADODB. This sample is unique because only ADODB can provide recursive Active directory searching and listing. But ADODB can only READ Active directory. So you can find something by ADODB and then modify that directly by ADSI.

With previos example this help build you PHP coded interface to Menaging and browsing Microsoft Active Directory.

Also ADODB on ADSI helps you sort recordset and search on it.

<?php

$objConnection = new COM ("ADODB.Connection") ;
$objConnection->Open("Provider=ADsDSOObject;user id=DOMAIN\\login;password=your_passowrd;") ;

$objCommand = new COM("ADODB.Command") ;
$objCommand->ActiveConnection = $objConnection ;

$Cmd  = "<LDAP://dc=mydomain,dc=com>;" ;
$Cmd .= "(&(objectClass=user)(mail=*)(!cn=SystemMailbox*));" ;
$Cmd .= "name,mail,telephoneNumber;subtree" ;

$objCommand->Properties['Sort On']->Value = "name" ;

$objCommand->CommandText = $Cmd ;
$objRecordSet = $objCommand->Execute() ;

$OrderNumber = 0 ;
while(!$objRecordSet->EOF())
 {
  $OrderNumber ++ ;
  $nn = $objRecordSet->Fields['name']->Value ;
  $mm = $objRecordSet->Fields['mail']->Value ;
  $ph = $objRecordSet->Fields['telephoneNumber']->Value ;
  echo "$OrderNumber: $nn mail: $mm phone: $ph<br>" ;
  $objRecordSet->MoveNext() ;
 }

Echo "===========================<br>" ;
Echo "All MailBoxes: " ;
Echo $objRecordSet->RecordCount() ;
$objRecordSet->Close() ;
$objCommand->Close() ;
$objConnection->Close() ;

unset($objRecordSet) ;
unset($objCommand) ;
unset($objConnection) ;

?>

kleontiv -at- combellga -dot- ru (15-Dec-2003 05:27)

I think some one wants to access to Microsoft Active Directory using ADSI with different credential by PHP. You can also do it via pure LDAP but using ADSI it is more simpler.

On VB, VBS or ASP you can do like folowing (so not trivial):

<%
Set dso = GetObject("LDAP:")

Set DsObj = dso.OpenDSObject( _
    "LDAP://DC=mydomain,DC=com", _
    "DOMAIN\login", _
    "password", _
    ADS_SECURE_AUTHENTICATION + ADS_SERVER_BIND + ADS_USE_ENCRYPTION)

for each Obj in DsObj
    Response.Write Obj.name & " with class of: " & Obj.class & "<br>"
next
%>

On PHP you can do like that:

<?php
$ADSI = new COM("LDAP:") ;

$DsObj = $ADSI->OpenDsObject("LDAP://DC=mydomain,DC=com",
                             "DOMAIN\login",
                             "password",
                             515) ;

while($Obj = $DsObj->Next())
 {
  echo $Obj->name.' with class of: '.$Obj->class.'<br>' ;
 }
?>

The access type enumeration you can use as ADS_AUTHENTICATION_ENUM.

david at wu-man dot com (06-Dec-2003 10:42)

After many hours of trial and error, I have finally discovered how to kill the notorious Word process.  I hope my solution works for everyone else.

#1) $word->Quit() is perfectly fine.  Don't bother feeding in as parameter those empty variants.

#2) Do NOT have com_load_typelib('Word.Application') anywhere in your script.

#3) Make sure you have the following line before $word->Quit() :

$word->Documents[1]->Close(false);

#4) Add the following lines after $word->Quit() :

<?php
$word->Release();
$word = null;
unset($word);
?>

If my solution indeed helped you with your problem, please email me and let me know.  I would like to see if the problem was indeed solved.

alanraycom at el hogar dot net com (03-Dec-2003 11:50)

XSLT transformations using MSXML can be done with this code

<?php
function xsltransform1($xslpath,$xmlstring)
 {
  $xml= new COM("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
  $xml->async=false;
  // $xmlstring is an xml string
  $xml->load($xmlstring);
  $xsl = new COM("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
  $xsl->async=false;
  // $xslpath is path to an xsl file
  $xsl->load($xslpath);
  $response=$xml->transformNode($xsl);
  unset($xml);
  unset($xsl);
  return $response;
 }
?>

enjoy
Alan Young

chris at hitcatcher dot com (02-Dec-2003 12:19)

Many COM objects don't do well when passing long (win32) filenames as function parameters.  You can get the 8.3 name of the folder or file on *most* (some win platforms don't support it, and it can be toggled off in the registry for performance reasons) servers using the following:

<?php
//create FSO instance
$exFSO = new COM("Scripting.FileSystemObject") or die ("Could not create Scripting.FileSystemObject");

//set vars
$myDir = "C:\\Program Files\\";
$myFile = "a long file name.txt";

//get folder & file objects
$exDir = $exFSO->GetFolder($myDir);
$exFile = $exFSO->GetFile($myDir . $myFile);
echo $exDir->ShortPath;
echo $exFile->ShortPath;
?>

(23-Nov-2003 05:57)

Here is an example of reading the custom properties like Author, Keywords, etc. which are stored in MS Office and other Windows files. You must install and register dsofile as described at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q224351. The .frm file in that distribution lists most of the available properties.

<?php
// the file you wish to access
$fn = '/docs/MFA.xls';

$oFilePropReader = new COM('DSOleFile.PropertyReader');
$props = $oFilePropReader->GetDocumentProperties($fn);

// one syntax
$au = com_get($props, 'Author');
print "au: $au \n";

//another syntax
$str = 'LastEditedBy';
$lsb = $props->$str;
var_dump($lsb);

// set a property if you wish
if (!$props->IsReadOnly()) {
  $props->Subject = 'tlc';
}
?>

brana (17-Nov-2003 01:17)

How to send email via MAPI (works with Windows NT4, apache launched as a service)

<?php
#New MAPI session...
$session = new COM("MAPI.Session");

#Login
$strProfileInfo = "exchange_server" . chr(10) . "exchange_user";
$session->Logon("", "", 0, 1, 0, 1, $strProfileInfo);
           
# New message...
$msg = $session->Outbox->Messages->Add();
$msg->Subject = "Subject";
$msg->Text = "body";
       
#set recipients...
$rcpts = $msg->Recipients;
$rcpts->AddMultiple("toto@toto.com", 1);   #To...
$rcpts->AddMultiple("titi@titi.com", 2);   #Cc...
$rcpts->AddMultiple("tutu@tutu.com", 3);   #Bcc...

# Resolve senders
$rcpts->Resolve();
               
#Send message
$msg->Send();   

#Logoff           
$session->Logoff();   
       
#Cleanup
if($msg!=null) {
    $msg->Release();
    $msg = null;
}       
if($session!=null) {
    $session->Release();
    $session = null;
}               
?>

ps : NT account launching the service and exchange user must match !

(03-Oct-2003 08:55)

Convert Microsoft word document .DOC to adobe acrobat .PS or .PDF files:

Drawback: if any dialog boxes pop up, the conversion will become non-automated.

<?php
// You must have word and adobe acrobat distiller on
// your system, although theoretically any printer driver
// that makes .PS files would work.

// starting word
$word = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instanciate Word");
print "Loaded Word, version {$word->Version}\n";

// bring it to front
$word->Visible = 1;

// Select the acrobat distiller as the active printer.
// I presume that you could also use the Acrobat PDF writer // driver that comes with Acrobat full version.
$word->ActivePrinter = "Acrobat Distiller";

// Open a word document, or anything else that word
// can read
$word->Documents->Open($input);

// This will create a .PS file called $output
$word->ActiveDocument->PrintOut(0, 0, 0, $output);

// If you need a .pdf instead, use the acrobat
// distiller's watched folder option.

// closing word
$word->Quit();

// free the object
$word->Release();
$word = null;

?>

court shrock (26-Sep-2003 01:24)

took me a while until I found out how to loop through COM objects in PHP.... in ASP, you use something like:

<%
set domainObject = GetObject("WinNT://Domain")

for each obj in domainObject
  Response.write obj.Name & "<br>"
next

%>

I finally found a note in a PHP bogus bug report that said you needed to do something like this (this is using ADSI):

<?php
$adsi = new COM("WinNT://Domain");

while($obj = $adsi->Next()) {
  echo $obj->Name.'<br>';
}// while

// will list all the names of all objects in the domain 'Domain'
?>

Also, you can access the IIS metabase by doing something like the following:

<?php
$iis = new COM("IIS://localhost/w3svc");

while($obj = $iis->Next()) {
  if ($obj->Class == 'IISWebServer') {
    $site = new COM("IIS://Localhost/w3svc/".$obj->Name);
    echo 'serviceID ('.$obj->Name.'): '.$site->ServerComment.'<br>';
    $bindings = $site->ServerBindings;
   
    echo '<ul>';
    foreach($bindings as $binding) {
      list($ip, $port, $hostHeader) = explode(':', $binding);
      echo "<li>$ip:$port -- $hostHeader</li>";
    }// foreach
    echo '</ul>';

    // hint: ssl bindings are in $site->SecureBindings

    unset($site);

  }// if
 
}// while
unset($iis);

// will list all the sites and their bindings on 'localhost'
?>

php at dictim dot com (06-Sep-2003 09:17)

This took me days to work out how to do so I gotta share it:

How to get the word count from a MS Word Document:

<?php
#Instantiate the Word component.

$word = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instantiate Word");

$word->Visible = 1;

$word->Documents->Open("c:/anydocument.doc");
$temp = $word->Dialogs->Item(228);
$temp->Execute();
$numwords = $temp->Words();

echo $numwords;

$word->Quit();
?>

Note that this is the only way to get the word count accurately:
$word->ActiveDocument->Words->Count;
Will see all carriage returns and punctuation as words so is wildy innaccurate.

seidenberg at cf-mail dot net (11-Jul-2003 11:36)

open PDF Documents with Internet Explorer

<?php
$browser = new COM("InternetExplorer.Application");
$browser->Visible = true;
$browser->Navigate("path_to_your_pdf_document");
?>

this works for me with php-gtk

tomas dot pacl at atlas dot cz (16-Jun-2003 02:07)

Passing parameters by reference in PHP 4.3.2 (and in a future releases of PHP )

In PHP 4.3.2 allow_call_time_pass_reference option is set to "Off" by default and future versions may not support this option any longer.
Some COM functions has by-reference parameters. VARIANT object must be used to call this functions, but it would be passed without an '&' before variable name.

Example:

<?php
$myStringVariant = new VARIANT("over-write me", VT_BSTR);

/* works */
$result = $comobj->DoSomethingTo($myStringVariant );

/* works only with allow_call_time_pass_reference option set to "On" and may not work in a future release of PHP */
$result = $comobj->DoSomethingTo(&$myStringVariant );

/* The value in the variant can be retrieved by: */
$theActualValue = $myStringVariant->value;
?>

php at racinghippo dot co dot uk (23-Mar-2003 01:47)

PASSING/RETURNING PARAMETERS BY REFERENCE
=========================================

Some COM functions not only return values through the return value, but also act upon a variable passed to it as a parameter *By Reference*:

RetVal = DoSomethingTo (myVariable)

Simply sticking an '&' in front of myVariable doesn't work - you need to pass it a variant of the correct type, as follows:

  $myStringVariant = new VARIANT("over-write me", VT_BSTR);
  $result = $comobj->DoSomethingTo( &$myStringVariant );

The value in the variant can then be retrieved by:

  $theActualValue = $myStringVariant->value;

Other types of variant can be created as your needs demand - see the preceding section on the VARIANT type.

alex at domini dot net (05-Mar-2003 10:55)

To manage the Windows Register at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ use these functions:

<?php

/**
 * @return string
 * @param aplicacio string
 * @param nom string
 * @desc Retorna el valor del registre HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\aplicacio\nom
 */
function rtv_registre($aplicacio, $nom)
{
    Global $WshShell;
    $registre =  "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\\" . $aplicacio . "\\"  . $nom;
    $valor = $WshShell->RegRead($registre);
    return($valor);
   
   
}

/**
 * @return string
 * @param aplicacio string
 * @param nom string
 * @param valor string
 * @param tipus string
 * @desc Actualitza el valor del registre HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\aplicacio\nom
 */
function put_registre($aplicacio, $nom, $valor, $tipus="REG_SZ")
{
    Global $WshShell;
    $registre =  "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\\" . $aplicacio . "\\"  . $nom;
    $retorn = $WshShell->RegWrite($registre, $valor, $tipus);
    return($retorn);
   
   
}

//
// Creem una instncia del COM que ens serveix per
// accedir al registre de Windows, i la mantenim.
// D'aquesta manera millorem el rendiment.
$WshShell = new COM("WScript.Shell");
?>

richard dot quadling at carval dot co dot uk (26-Feb-2003 01:51)

With thanks to Harald Radi and Wez Furlong.

Some VBA functions have optional parameters. Sometimes the parameters you want to pass are not consecutive.

e.g.

GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name="BookMarkName"
GoTo(wdGoToBookmark,,,"BookMarkName)

In PHP, the "blank" parameters need to be empty.

Which is ...

<?php
// Some servers may have an auto timeout, so take as long as you want.
set_time_limit(0);

// Show all errors, warnings and notices whilst developing.
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// Used as a placeholder in certain COM functions where no parameter is required.
$empty = new VARIANT();

// Load the appropriate type library.
com_load_typelib('Word.Application');

// Create an object to use.
$word = new COM('word.application') or die('Unable to load Word');
print "Loaded Word, version {$word->Version}\n";

// Open a new document with bookmarks of YourName and YourAge.
$word->Documents->Open('C:/Unfilled.DOC');

// Fill in the information from the form.
$word->Selection->GoTo(wdGoToBookmark,$empty,$empty,'YourName'); // Note use of wdGoToBookmark, from the typelibrary and the use of $empty.
$word->Selection->TypeText($_GET['YourName']);

$word->Selection->GoTo(wdGoToBookmark,$empty,$empty,'YourAge');
$word->Selection->TypeText($_GET['YourAge']);

// Save it, close word and finish.
$word->Documents[1]->SaveAs("C:/{$_GET['YourName']}.doc");
$word->Quit();
$word->Release();
$word = null;
print "Word closed.\n";
?>

The example document is ...

Hello [Bookmark of YourName], you are [Bookmark of YourAge] years old.

and it would be called ...

word.php?YourName=Richard%20Quadling&YourAge=35

Regards,

Richard.

pchason at juno dot com (11-Dec-2002 07:23)

Searched for days on how to set up a multi-column html output grid that didn't use an array when creating an ADODB connection. Couldn't find one so I figured it out myself. Pretty simple. Wish I would have tried it myself sooner. Commented code with database connection is below...

<html>
<body>
<table>
<?php
//create the database connection
$conn = new COM("ADODB.Connection");
$dsn = "DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)}; DBQ=" . realpath("mydb.mdb");
$conn->Open($dsn);
//pull the data through SQL string
$rs = $conn->Execute("select clients from web");
$clients = $rs->Fields(1);
//start the multicolumn data output
$i = 0;
$columns = 5;
while (!$rs->EOF){
//if $i equals 0, start a row
if($i == 0){
echo "<tr>";
}
//then start writing the cells in the row, increase $i by one, and move to the next record
echo "<td>" . $clients->value . "</td>";
$i++;
$rs->movenext();
//once $i increments to equal $columns, end the row,
//and start the process over by setting $i to 0
if($i == $columns || $rs->EOF) {
echo "</tr>";
$i = 0;
    }
}
//end multicolumn data output

//close the ADO connections and release resources
$rs->Close();
$conn->Close();
$rs = null;
$conn = null; ?>
</table>
</body>
</html>

tedknightusa at hotmail dot com (26-Sep-2002 05:29)

A Notes example:

<?php
$session = new COM "Lotus.NotesSession" );
$session->Initialize($password);
   
$someDB = "C:\Lotus\Notes\Data\somedb.nsf";
$db = $session->GetDatabase("", $someDB) or die("Cannot get someDB.nsf");
$view = $db->GetView("some_view") or die("Some View not found");

$doc = $view->GetFirstDocument() or die("Unable to get Initial Some Document");

// loop through
while($doc){
  $col_vals = $doc->ColumnValues();
  echo $col_vals[0];
  $doc = $view->GetNextDocument($doc);
}
?>

dwt at myrealbox dot com (27-Aug-2002 11:31)

When first writing applications instancing COM objects I always faced the problem of the instanced program not terminating correctly although everything else worked fine. In fact the process had to be killed manually by using the task manager. When experimenting a bit I was able to isolate the cause for this peculiar behaviour to be illustrated by the sample code below:

<?php

//Accessing arrays by retrieving elements via function ArrayName(Index) works, but certainly is neither efficient nor good style
$excel=new COM("Excel.Application");
$excel->sheetsinnewworkbook=1;
$excel->Workbooks->Add();

$book=$excel->Workbooks(1);
$sheet=$book->Worksheets(1);

$sheet->Name="Debug-Test";
$book->saveas("C:\\debug.xls");

$book->Close(false);
unset($sheet);
unset($book);
$excel->Workbooks->Close();
$excel->Quit();
unset($excel);

//Accessing arrays as usual (using the [] operator) works, buts leads to the application not being able to terminate by itself
$excel=new COM("Excel.Application");
$excel->sheetsinnewworkbook=1;
$excel->Workbooks->Add();

$excel->Workbooks[1]->Worksheets[1]->Name="Debug-Test";
$excel->Workbooks[1]->saveas("C:\\debug.xls");

$excel->Workbooks[1]->Close(false);
$excel->Workbooks->Close();
$excel->Quit();
unset($excel);

?>

The sample code performs the same action twice and each time the file is properly created. Yet for some mysterious reason the instanced excel process won't terminate once you've accessed an array the way most programmers (especially those who do a lot of oop in c++) do! Therefore until the PHP developers become aware of this problem we'll have to use the inefficient coding style illustrated in the first example.

nospam at bol dot com dot br (21-Aug-2002 11:30)

This is a sample to make a parametrized query using ADO via COM, this sample was used with Foxpro but will work's with most ADO complient databases. This was tested on IIS with WIN XP pro.

<?php
// Create the main connection
$dbc = new COM("ADODB.Connection")  or die ("connection create fail");
$dbc->Provider = "MSDASQL";
$dbc->Open("FoxDatabase");
// Creates a temporary record set
$RSet = new COM("ADODB.Recordset");
// Create one ADO command
$cm   = new COM("ADODB.Command");
$cm->Activeconnection = $dbc;
// the ? inside values will be the parameters $par01 and $par02
$cm->CommandText =  "Insert Into testtable ( mycharfield,mymemofield) VALUES (?,?)" ;
$cm->Prepared = TRUE;
// Creates and append 2 parameters
$par01 = $cm->CreateParameter('ppar01',129,1,50,'ABCDEFGHIKL');
$cm->Parameters->Append($par01);
$par02 = $cm->CreateParameter('ppar01',129,1,50,'123456789012346789');
$cm->Parameters->Append($par02);
// Call 10 times the exec comand to show 10 different queries
for ($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
  $par01->Value = 'Count '.$i;
  $par02->Value = 'Passing here'.$i.' times';
  $RSet = $cm->Execute;
}
$RSet = $dbc->Execute("select * from testtable");
while (!$RSet->EOF){
  echo $RSet->fields["mycharfield"]->value.' ' ;
  echo $RSet->fields["mymemofield"]->value ;
  echo '<BR>';
  $RSet->movenext();
}
$RSet->close;
$dbc->close;
$cm->close;   
$RSet = null;
$dbc = null;
$cm = null;
?>

admin at purplerain dot org (19-Apr-2002 12:34)

an easy way to convert your file from .doc to .html

<?php
// starting word
$word = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instanciate Word");

// if you want see thw World interface the value must be '1' else '0'
$word->Visible = 1;

//doc file location
$word->Documents->Open("E:\\first.doc");

//html file location  '8' mean HTML format
$word->Documents[1]->SaveAs("E:\\test_doc.html",8);

//closing word
$word->Quit();

//free the object from the memory
$word->Release();
$word = null;
?>

admin at purplerain dot org (02-Apr-2002 11:01)

An easy way to send e-mail using your default Outlook account:

<?php
$objApp = new COM("Outlook.Application");
$myItem = $objApp->CreateItem(olMailItem);
$a=$myItem->Recipients->Add("admin@purplerain.org");
$myItem->Subject="Subject";
$myItem->Body="This is a Body Section now.....!";
$myItem->Display();
$myItem->Send();
?>

madon at cma-it dot com (07-Mar-2002 08:59)

I thought this excel chart example could be useful.

Note the use of Excel.application vs Excel.sheet.

<pre>
<?php
    print "Hi";
#Instantiate the spreadsheet component.
#    $ex = new COM("Excel.sheet") or Die ("Did not connect");
$exapp = new COM("Excel.application") or Die ("Did not connect");

#Get the application name and version   
print "Application name:{$ex->Application->value}<BR>" ;
print "Loaded version: {$ex->Application->version}<BR>";

$wkb=$exapp->Workbooks->add();
#$wkb = $ex->Application->ActiveWorkbook or Die ("Did not open workbook");
print "we opened workbook<BR>";

$ex->Application->Visible = 1; #Make Excel visible.
print "we made excell visible<BR>";

$sheets = $wkb->Worksheets(1); #Select the sheet
print "selected a sheet<BR>";
$sheets->activate; #Activate it
print "activated sheet<BR>";

#This is a new sheet
$sheets2 = $wkb->Worksheets->add(); #Add a sheet
print "added a new sheet<BR>";
$sheets2->activate; #Activate it
print "activated sheet<BR>";

$sheets2->name="Report Second page";

$sheets->name="Report First page";
print "We set a name to the sheet: $sheets->name<BR>";

# fills a columns
$maxi=20;
for ($i=1;$i<$maxi;$i++) {
    $cell = $sheets->Cells($i,5) ; #Select the cell (Row Column number)
    $cell->activate; #Activate the cell
    $cell->value = $i*$i; #Change it to 15000
}

$ch = $sheets->chartobjects->add(50, 40, 400, 100); # make a chartobject

$chartje = $ch->chart; # place a chart in the chart object
$chartje->activate; #activate chartobject
$chartje->ChartType=63;
$selected = $sheets->range("E1:E$maxi"); # set the data the chart uses
$chartje->setsourcedata($selected); # set the data the chart uses
print "set the data the chart uses <BR>";

$file_name="D:/apache/Apache/htdocs/alm/tmp/final14.xls";
if (file_exists($file_name)) {unlink($file_name);}
#$ex->Application->ActiveWorkbook->SaveAs($file_name); # saves sheet as final.xls
$wkb->SaveAs($file_name); # saves sheet as final.xls
print "saved<BR>";

#$ex->Application->ActiveWorkbook->Close("False");   
$exapp->Quit();
unset($exapp);
?>

</pre>

Alex Madon