I have a a Zend Community Edition install on my laptop and was wondering if I could use it as the source for my IBM i PHP scripts. Not that it is a suitable solution for many others but I can take my laptop to any customer, set up DR4i and run the PHP interface directly from my laptop to the IBM i. If the customer is already running Zend on the IBM i I can install a temporary key to access the EasyCom server or install the EasyCom server directly on the IBM i (takes about 5 minutes) and remove it when I am finished! I could also install a Linux setup but this is a much simpler option.

The first challenge was how to get the extension loaded to my laptop installation, going through the Zend control interfaces did show a list of extensions and would allow me to manipulate them but I could not find any method of installing additional extensions. The obvious answer would be to edit the php.ini file directly and add the new extension, but I was unsure what effect this would have. So I contacted EasyCom and asked for details on how this could be achieved, they sent me a link to a download that would install the correct DLL and set up the php.ini file automatically.

The install seemed to go well but when I started the ZendServer interface it told me the extension did not install correctly! Another call to EasyCom and they shipped me an updated dll to replace the one previously downloaded.

This is the error it generated:

[23-Jun-2010 12:15:31] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Easycom For PHP v3: Unable to initialize module
Module compiled with build ID=API20090626,NTS,VC9
PHP compiled with build ID=API20090626,NTS,VC8
These options need to match
in Unknown on line 0

After I installed the updated dll it did load and it now successfully connects to the IBM i EasyCom server and builds the pages. It did leave a couple of lines in the display which need to be removed (I need to work that out) but overall it is working correctly except for one small issue which I know about, EasyCom needs to update the client to support long long variables. Once they fix that I am ready for the road and can demonstrate the new PHP basedDR4i interface on demand (well with a bit of additional configuration on the IBM i).

We have just agreed to be a distribution and support representative for Aura Equipments for North America, so if you wish to discuss the possibilities for running PHP in your IBM i environment without the complexity of setting up the IBM i HTTP server and ZendServer let us know, we will be more than willing to share our experiences.

Chris…