Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:37027
Mailing-List: contact internals-help@lists.php.net; run by ezmlm
Received-SPF: pass (pb1.pair.com: domain gmail.com designates 72.14.204.227 as permitted sender)
DomainKey-Status: bad
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;
        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
        h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type;
        b=tLKSlZe4JkD6WlAjrM4+NJ6Ps+SNVvafmIyff6CoeKdRTecXnncIkyiwjULiZ6b+ERISChovfo2yOaHVR6yk2n8R4wMpCxb49mLmXdVoYM7+/eaMZf6kttrjlKSzTc1POPRBrc0vEn/cNL44J5usCB3JEhCtiqqYHJvR40IXaXE=
Message-ID: <deae35790804150837j9c97570h85475185874a667c@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:37:17 -0400
To: internals@lists.php.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; 
	boundary="----=_Part_29929_2249716.1208273839897"
Subject: calling a script function via call_user_function
From: magreenblatt@gmail.com ("Marshall Greenblatt")

------=_Part_29929_2249716.1208273839897
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

Hi All,

I'm building an embedded application that uses PHP scripting for internal
data processing.  It behaves as follows:

1. Provide arbitrary application-specified input parameters.
2. Execute a PHP script that manipulates those input parameters.
3. Retrieve the resulting return value.

I've attempted three possible approaches for achieving this goal.   Please
bear with me as I explain each of these approaches -- it's necessary in
order to understand the question :-)


Approach A:

Parse a script containing a PHP function, and then call that PHP function.

On the PHP side:

// some arbitrary user-defined PHP function
function myfunction( $pArg ) { return strtoupper( $pArg ); }

On the application side:

// do something to parse "myfunction" and cause it to be available via
call_user_function()
php_lint_script(&file_handle TSRMLS_CC);

zval funcname, retval;
zval *args[1];

INIT_ZVAL(retval);
INIT_ZVAL(funcname);

MAKE_STD_ZVAL(args[1]);
ZVAL_STRING(args[1], "the string to make uppercase", 0);

ZVAL_STRING(&funcname, "myfunction", 0);

// call the user function
if(call_user_function(EG(function_table), NULL, &funcname, &retval, 1, args
TSRMLS_CC) != FAILURE)
{
   // it worked
}

My problem with Approach A is that "php_lint_script", "php_execute_script",
etc, do not add the PHP function "myfunction" to the EG(function_table)
hash, so call_user_function() always fails.


Approach B:

Execute a PHP script and retrieve the return value without calling a
particular PHP function.

On the PHP side:

return strtoupper( $GLOBAL_VARIABLE );

On the application side:

php_register_variable("GLOBAL_VARIABLE", "the string to make uppercase",
NULL TSRMLS_CC);

zval *retval;
php_execute_simple_script(&file_handle, &retval TSRMLS_CC);

My problem with Approach B is that the return zval from the
php_execute_simple_script() function always contains a true/false value
instead of whatever was returned using the 'return' construct from the code.


Approach C:

Similar to approach B, except call a module function to record the result.

On the PHP side:

record_return( strtoupper( $GLOBAL_VARIABLE ) );

On the application side, create a module that provides the "record_return"
function to record the return value for later usage.  This approach works.
However, if at all possible, I would prefer to use the PHP language 'return'
construct and somehow retrieve the resulting value.


Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could get either approach A or
approach B working?  Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I'm currently using PHP 5.2.4 for development -- I can upgrade to a newer
version if that would be beneficial.

Thanks,
Marshall

------=_Part_29929_2249716.1208273839897--