Is it possible to use C++ binaries from php

Question 1

Is it possible to write some C or C++ code and compile to binaries, then use those binaries with php? Is it also possible to write a php library using C and C++ ?

If so, please tell how can I do so?

Question 2

PHP is modular in design -- it consists of the "engine" and many extensions, some of which are essential (e.g. the "standard" extension) and some are optional. They can be compiled-in or loaded dynamically (via php.ini settings or the dl() function).

You can easily write your own PHP extension in C/C++, if you are willing to learn the API. Start with the documentation on how to "hack the Zend Engine".

Question 3

Documented officially: https://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.file.php#example-36

Before I begin, I just want to specify my configurations: I'm using Windows 7-64bit, PHP 5.4.3, Apache HTTP Server 2.2.x, I've set my environmental variable PHP_HOME=C:toolsphp-5.4.3 (PHP installation directory). I use the variable in my httpd.conf and php.ini file

Note: I will be omitting some text for brevity.

In the httpd.conf file

# For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module "${PHP_HOME}/php5apache2_2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# configure the path to php.ini
PHPIniDir "${PHP_HOME}"

In the php.ini file

; Directory in which the loadable extensions (modules) reside.
; http://php.net/extension-dir
; extension_dir = "./"
; On windows:
extension_dir = "${PHP_HOME}/ext"

Question 4

Here's what worked best for me when trying to script this (in case anyone else comes across this like I did):

$ pecl -d php_suffix=5.6 install <package>
$ pecl uninstall -r <package>

$ pecl -d php_suffix=7.0 install <package>
$ pecl uninstall -r <package>

$ pecl -d php_suffix=7.1 install <package>
$ pecl uninstall -r <package>

The -d php_suffix=<version> piece allows you to set config values at run time vs pre-setting them with pecl config-set. The uninstall -r bit does not actually uninstall it (from the docs):

[email protected]:~$ pecl help uninstall
pecl uninstall [options] [channel/]<package> ...
Uninstalls one or more PEAR packages.  More than one package may be
specified at once.  Prefix with channel name to uninstall from a
channel not in your default channel (pecl.php.net)

Options:
  ...
  -r, --register-only
        do not remove files, only register the packages as not installed
  ...

The uninstall line is necessary otherwise installing it will remove any previously installed version, even if it was for a different PHP version (ex: Installing an extension for PHP 7.0 would remove the 5.6 version if the package was still registered as installed).

Question 5

Yes, you could json_encode the variable you want to send back to client.

echo json_encode( array('variable' => 'your value' ) );

The client will receive the data through a callback when the request is completed. Without more clarification on specifics that's all i can offer, with some more details i can provide code samples depending on whether you're using a JavaScript library such as jQuery or doing a raw XHR request.

Edit: so in jquery to retrieve the variable above you would do the following.

$.getJSON('yourfile.php', function(data){
      console.log( data.variable ); 
});

Question 6

Never used any of those, but they look interesting..

Take a look at Gearman as well.. more overhead in systems like these but you get other cool stuff :) Guess it depends on your needs ..

Is it possible to use C++ binaries from php

Answers

php