Install PHP3 or 4 on win 95 and PWS

Anon

Hi,

I've installed PHP3 and PHP4 with PWS on win 95. The server runs, but returns only html, the php scripts are ingored.

Comments on my installation.
PWS dll versions 4 and above
regedit - added the .php, phpfile and server script lines.
change php.ini; extention_dir = c:\install\php3 and doc_dir = c:\webshare\wwwroot
make wwwroot and php3 directories executable
copy php dll's to windows path and system dirs
No browscap.ini file
The pws needs a fixed IP address in the local TCP/IP network protocol. (Not bound to the PWS)
The dialup TCP/IP network protocol has no IP address and is bound to the PWS.

Code used to test php
index.html file with a hyperlink to test.php
<p><?php echo "This is a test" ?>
</p>
1. <? echo ("this is the simplest, an SGML processing instruction\n"); ?>

<?php echo("if you want to serve XML documents, do like this\n"); ?>
<script language="php">
echo ("some editors (like FrontPage) don't
like processing instructions");
</script>
<% echo ("You may optionally use ASP-style tags"); %>
<%= $variable; # This is a shortcut for "<%echo .." %>

Server Returns = 1.2.3.4

Any suggestions?
Regards
Thayne

Anon

Hi,

I've installed PHP3 appache on win 95. The server does not run proper.

Anon

First off, I don't think it wise to attempt to run both PHP3 AND PHP4 under PWS, unless you specifically configure it to use different file extensions for each version (e.g., .PHP3 files fed thru PHP3 engine, .PHP files fed thru PHP4 engine, etc.). This involves modifying that .REG file that comes with the distribution so that you configure it properly that way.

Second, what versions exactly are you trying to install? Currently the latest release is v4.0.3pl1. This version contains a great many additional files from previous releases, fixes various security issues and bugs, and is generally considered something to use. So if you don't already have this version, go get it. The one issue with this version is that in the Win32 .ZIP file, the .REG file talked about in README.TXT appears to be missing. It's a very basic .REG file and can be created by running NotePad and creating a file called PWS-php4.reg (honestly anything that ends with .REG is fine) and typing in the following:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w3svc\parameters\Script Map]
".php"="C:\Program Files\PHP\php4isapi.dll"

where the 2nd line contains the extension of files you wish to have processed by the PHP engine (from your examples above I'm assuming you want to use .PHP) and the path to the PHP4ISAPI.DLL file included in the PHP4 distribution. In the example above, this is the C:\Program Files\PHP directory (note the use of TWO (2) backslashes for each backslash in the path...don't forget to do this!).

Then double-click this file to make sure the proper entry is imported in the Registry. Finally, following the instructions in the README.TXT file,

"- In the PWS Manager, right click on a given directory you want to add PHP
support to, and select Properties. Check the 'Execute' checkbox, and
confirm.

At this point, PWS should have built-in PHP support."

Were all these steps followed? If so, the next question is how did you load the page into your browser? The most common mistake people tend to make is double-clicking on the HTML file on their HD, thereby loading the file with a path like "file:///C|/InetPub/wwwroot/test.php". This does NOT go through the webserver. You must use a URL like "http://localhost/test.php" in order to make sure that you are loading the page via the webserver. Only then will your PHP file be handed off to the PHP engine for execution, with the generated output sent to your browser for display.

Does this make any sense?

P.S. Final note: The "echo" command is not a function and does not require the use of parentheses. So in your examples above, you can remove them. (e.g., just write
<? echo "this is the simplest, an SGML processing instruction\n"; ?>

Anon

Hi,

Thanks for the detailed message, I think the problem is with PWS. I've followed your steps and still get no joy. Can you suggest a URL to get an update of PWS; Can't seem to find it on Microsoft.com?

Regards
Thayne

Anon

Don't know if you found it in the meantime, and I'm going by memory here since it's been quite awhile since I had to get PWS installed on a Win95 box. But I believe if you do the following it will take you where you need to be. Please note I'm assuming you have all your network settings in place to support TCP/IP, etc.:

Right-click on Network Neighborhood and select properties from the popup menu. A dialog box should appear with your network settings. (Same as Network Control Panel)
Click on the Configuration tab at the top (should be the default). In the center of the dialog box you should see the various adapters, protocols, clients, and services that are currently installed (e.g., Client for Microsoft Networks, your NIC adapter, Dialup Adapter, TCP/IP, the bindings for TCP/IP-->Dialup Adapter & TCP/IP-->yourNIC, etc.). Click the [Add...] button.
You should be presented with another dialog box from which you can choose whether you wish to add an adapter, client, protocol, or service. Select Service and click [OK].
Another dialog box pops up, this time listing manufacturers on the left side and their respective services on the right. Click on Microsoft on the left side, and if memory serves me correctly, you should see the Personal Web Server listed on the right. Select this and click [OK] or [Add] (can't remember what the "ok" button says here). Depending on how your box had Windows initially installed, either the CAB files are already on the HD and Windows will do its thing, or you may be prompted to insert the Windows 95 CD. Do so and click [OK], etc.
And when it's all said and done, back under the Configuration tab of the Network Control Panel dialog box you should see the new service installed. Click [Ok], perform the customary reboot, and voila! Now, as for configuring PWS, go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Personal Web Server.

Hopefully you already found this (I was just cleaning up old e-mail), but just in case not, I thought I should post something. Hope that helped.

Anon

Thanks for the message.

The prob. was with the PWS version. Although the dll's show version 4 I needed to download a 27Meg upgrade!

All is running fine except for a small thing. I set the win. registry settings to run ".php4" files; works fine. When I tried to add ".php", to the registry, it ignores the file instead of executing the script?

Regards
Thayne

PS: Do you know if there is a way to include PHP files into documents with ".html" file extensions?

Anon

"When I tried to add ".php", to the registry, it ignores the file instead of executing the script?"

How exactly did you add ".php" to the registry? I'm assuming when you say this that you created a .REG file containing something along the lines of the following:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\w3svc\parameters\Script Map]
".php4"="C:\Program Files\PHP\php4isapi.dll"
".php"="C:\Program Files\PHP\php4isapi.dll"

As for "Do you know if there is a way to include PHP files into documents with ".html" file extensions?", you've got a couple of choices here. The obvious one is to add yet another mapping so that all files ending in ".html" are fed through the PHP engine as well, but depending on your site's usage, this could slow down performance (since ALL .html files would have to go thru the PHP engine, even if only a small percentage contained PHP code).

Another method being used & touted by various sources is the 1x1 pixel GIF trick, including by Tim Purdue on page 2 of a recent article on logging at:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20001211.php3?page=2

Basically it involves inserting an <IMG> tag of the form

<IMG SRC="http://path/to/phpfile" height=1 width=1>

And, depending on what it is you're doing, this may serve you well. Hope that helps.