IIS/PHP/COM Trouble With DSOLEFILE.PropertyReader

ngonngu

I am trying to get the properties of office documents on our web server. To do this, I want to use the DSOLEFILE.PropertyReader MS com component. I am using PHP 4, on IIS. However, when I try to execute the following code:

<?php
$prop = new COM("DSOLEFILE.PropertyReader") or die("Unable to instanciate Word");
?>

I get a nasty little message box stating:
"php.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."

I have checked that the object is installed on our web server, and have followed the article on this site on how to interface PHP with COM objects - http://www.phpbuilder.net/columns/venkatesan20030501.php3.

I was able to get the excel example to work. However, when I try to invoke the DSOLEFILE.PropertyReader I get the error message above. Here are my questions:

Where is the log mentioned in the error message?
I have tested the equivelent code in ASP and it works fine. Could the problem I am having be related to the fact that PHP runs as a CGI under IIS? If so, what are my options- run PHP under APACHE?, Configure IIS/PHP to run in ISAPI mode, etc.
I suspect this problem could be an authentication issue. I have tried both anonymous and digest authentication. Under anoymous authentication, the web page times out, with digest authentication I get the error outlined above. Is there a problem with using digest/kereros authentication with PHP running as a CGI?

ngonngu

I found that by changing my PHP configuration under IIS from CGI to ISAPI, that I was able to use the COM component. However I do not quite understand why this would make any difference. Does anyone have any ideas why?

Also, I have found a few sources who claim that the PHP CGI module is more stable under IIS than ISAPI. Is this true?

AshesMx

Hi.
I'm having the same problem, except I'm running apache, and not IIS. (don't worry I'm running on a Microsoft box - XP to be specific ;-).

Is there a similar setting in Apache?
This is quite urgent - so any feed back will be helpfull.

ngonngu

I thought that under Apache that PHP installs as an ISAPI configuration, but maybe I am wrong.

I would run the php_sapi_name() function to make sure. If your config is CGI, I would configure it to run in ISAPI mode. I am sure there is an article about this on PHP.net. If your config is already ISAPI, the only advice I can offer is make sure the user account you use for your anonymous access has the proper authority. I would look at: http://www.phpbuilder.net/columns/v...n20030501.php3 This is for IIS configuration, but I think the points it makes about windows authority should apply to Apache as well.