No...don't bother reading the manuals they are complete BS. The com_load etc functions are not even defined as of php4.0.5 (at least according to my Win2000 installation) despite the manual's insistance to the contrary. There are examples of php code that open Word, but they don't work as far as my testing goes, and apparently according to
http://www.phpbuilder.com/forum/archives/2/2001/1/4/121341
others have had the same result.
The calls to any COM object that I can find result in "Invoke () error: Catastrophic failure".
SO until I am shown otherwise, I have to say that php DOES NOT work with ActiveX.