Writing to file on Windows server is giving me fits!

schwim

Hi there everyone,

I've tried everything I know to get this to work, but it still eludes me(unfortunately, I don't know much). I've read up on fopen at php.net, and have modified the script to closely match an example on that site, but I still can not write to a file on the server.

Windows
php 4.3.2

Here is my code:

$filename='d:\hosting\bbivins11\admin\index_content.txt';

// Let's make sure the file exists and is writable first.
if (is_writable($filename)) {

if (!$fp = fopen($filename, 'w')) {
         echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
         exit;
   }

   // Write content to our opened file.
   if (fwrite($fp, $_POST['index_content']) === FALSE) {
       echo "Cannot write to file ($filename)";
       exit;
   }

   echo "Success, wrote content to file ($filename).   Click <a href='../indextest.php' target='_blank'>here</a> to see your handywork.";

   fclose($fp);

} else {
   echo "The file $filename is not writable";
}

This nets me:

Cannot open file (d:\hosting\bbivins11\admin\index_content.txt)

so I think it means that it's finding the file, but can't open it.

as a path to the file, I have also tried:

d:\hosting\bbivins11\admin\index_content.txt(read about this at php.net)
http://www.mysite.com/admin/index_content.txt(it can't find the file when I do this)
index_content.txt

fopen is enabled in php.ini

Although I've turned on error reporting via the script, I still don't get any php errors.

Please let me know if I've neglected to include some important information that is needed to help. I'm still learning about php, and I'm not sure exactly what is relevent.

thanks,
json

bradgrafelman

Try using forward slashes? d:/hosting/.. etc.

Also, is that the entire error PHP is giving you?

schwim

Thanks very much for your reply.

using forward slashes gives the same error.

The error I'm getting is generated by the script. I'm not getting any php errors at all, although I turned error reporting on(all) at the script level.

I don't have another windows server to test it on, or I'd try it elsewhere to see if I could generate a php error(error reporting is turned off on this server).

thanks,
json

bradgrafelman

Try changing this:

if (!$fp = fopen($filename, 'w')) {
         echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
         exit;
   }

to this:

ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);
$fp = fopen($filename, 'w');
if(!$fp) {
         echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
         exit;
   }

schwim

Hi there,

I changed the code, and I get the identical error with no added php errors. I changed the error text to make sure that the file in fact got updated.

This is amazingly frustrating...

bradgrafelman

What version of Windows are you running? (Be specific - if XP, specify Home or Pro, etc.)

ClarkF1

It's not because you're using an absolute path rather than a relative path is it???

bradgrafelman

While he could certainly try relative paths... why wouldn't absolute paths work?

ClarkF1

I'm not sure, but it might be that the server only accepts relative paths with the htdocs (or equivalent) folder as the root.

Theoretically they should but using relative paths would also make the application more portable if you should change the location or use the script on a different server.

bradgrafelman

Very true. If the server was locking them inside htdocs, I would imagine this would be done via Safe Mode, but if you trigger that block PHP will definitely let you know what happened by specifically mentioning Safe Mode in the error.

I think it's really odd that the fopen() fails, yet PHP doesn't even throw so much as a warning or notice.

schwim

Hi there guys,

PHP states that I'm running on:

Windows NT WINHOSTECN72 5.2 build 3790
Microsoft IIS-6.0

I have already tried via relative path. I put the text file in the same directory as the page with the editor, and tried calling it via:

index_content.txt
./index_content.txt

But of course, that didn't work either.

Is there another(proper) way to write a relative path on a Windows server?

Safe_mode is ON
Safe_mode_gid is OFF
safe_mode_exec_dir has no value
Safe_mode_include_dir no value
fopen is ENABLED

Maybe I'm simply stating a relative path incorrectly?

thanks for all of your help so far.

thanks,
json

ClarkF1

I've just tried it with my windows xampp apache server and it worked for an absolute path. (safe mode is off)

I found this on the fopen page of the PHP manual:

If PHP has decided that filename specifies a local file, then it will try to open a stream on that file. The file must be accessible to PHP, so you need to ensure that the file access permissions allow this access. If you have enabled safe mode, or open_basedir further restrictions may apply.

There is information on safe mode here

You might find something that applies to you.

Nyxll

You have 3 '=' signs in there.

$_POST['index_content']) === FALSE

ClarkF1

the third = sign also checks the type (int, string etc.) not just the value.

schwim

Thanks very much for your help Clark. I've read the page concerning safe mode, and although it didn't help me with a workaround, it has helped me to understand how completely "safe_mode" can cripple the php scripting language. This is the first time I've worked on a server where it was enabled, and so far, nothing I've used elsewhere works on this one.

Is there an alternate method of getting data to a flat file that doesn't use fopen? I'm very ignorant in php, and I've not found anything else, but I'd rather not bug the client to set up a MySQL database for something so trivial and simple as this.

thanks,
json

bradgrafelman

Somehow I think it's just the path that's screwing it up. Have you tried making a test script with a simple:

<?PHP
$fp = fopen('testing.txt', 'w');
fwrite($fp, 'This is a test!');
fclose($fp);
?>

If that works, try doing something like this:

var_dump(is_dir('d:/hosting/bbivins11/admin/'));

If that returns false, I would definitely double check your file path.

schwim

Hi there Brad,

I ran the first test script, received a blank page, and checked the directory that the test script was sitting in, and there is no new file. Was I supposed to create the file before testing?

I ran the second test script, and received the following:

bool(true)

thanks,
json

bradgrafelman

Gah... I'm confused. If you're running Apache, the service should startup using the Local System credentials, so it really shouldn't be a permissions problem... or am I assuming too much? What webserver are you running?

schwim

Hi there Brad,

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I'm working with IIS. You can view info.php here if that might help some.

thanks,
json

bradgrafelman

Wow! Okay, now we're getting somewhere.

On this machine, can you right click on the D:/hosting/ folder, go to properties, and click on the Security tab? This should bring up the ACL (Access Control List, I believe is the acronym) for that folder. Basically - folder permissions.

What you're looking for is a user entry that begins most like with IUSR_, followed by the computer name (possibly WINHOSTECN72?). To make life simpler, give that user Full Control to the folder (check the "Allow" column next to Full Control).