(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5)
The DOTNET class allows you to instantiate a class from a .Net assembly and call its methods and access its properties.
$obj = new DOTNET("assembly", "classname")
$assembly_name
, string $class_name
[, int $codepage
] )
DOTNET class constructor. assembly_name specifies
which assembly should be loaded, and class_name
specifices which class in that assembly to instantiate. You may
optionally specify a codepage to use for unicode
string transformations; see the COM class
for more details on code pages.
The returned object is an overloaded object, which means that PHP does not see any fixed methods as it does with regular classes; instead, any property or method accesses are passed through to COM and from there to DOTNET. In other words, the .Net object is mapped through the COM interoperability layer provided by the .Net runtime.
Once you have created a DOTNET object, PHP treats it identically to any other COM object; all the same rules apply.
Example #1 DOTNET example
<?php
$stack = new DOTNET("mscorlib", "System.Collections.Stack");
$stack->Push(".Net");
$stack->Push("Hello ");
echo $stack->Pop() . $stack->Pop();
?>
Note:
You need to install the .Net runtime on your web server to take advantage of this feature.
sandips (yardi) (2011-06-29 02:57:44)
exercise to try different type of method signature and calling them in php.
VB.net Code
Public Class Class1
Public Function SayHello(ByVal input As String) As String
Return "Php input: " & input & "</BR>Dot net library said- 'Hello'"
End Function
Public Function ConcatArray(ByVal Values As Object()) As String
Dim ret As String = String.Empty
For Each sval As Object In Values
ret = ret & sval.ToString & " "
Next
Return ret.Substring(1, ret.Length - 1)
End Function
Public Function ReturnObject(ByVal FirstName As String, ByVal LastName As String) As Name
Dim obj As New Name
obj.FirstName = FirstName
obj.LastName = LastName
Return obj
End Function
'To explain Byref doesn't work with php
Public Function CallByRef(ByRef value As String) As String
value = "Value to ByRef parameter set in dot net."
Return "ByRef CallByRef() method called."
End Function
End Class
Public Class Name
Public FirstName As String = String.Empty
Public LastName As String = String.Empty
End Class
Php code to test .net library
<?php
$class1 = new DOTNET("DotNetTest,"
."Version=1.0.0.0,"
."Culture=neutral,"
."PublicKeyToken=6675daefc27eafc4"
,"DotNetTest.Class1");
echo $class1->SayHello("Hi PHP!!!!");
echo "</P>";
$parameter[0] = 12345;
$parameter[1] = "MyString";
$parameter[2] = false;
$ret = $class1 -> ConcatArray($parameter);
echo $ret;
echo "</P>";
$Obj = $class1 -> ReturnObject("Sandip","Shimpi");
echo $Obj->FirstName." ".$Obj->LastName;
echo "</P>";
$myByRef = "";
echo "Value of ByRef Variable before calling .net CallByRef() method: ".$myByRef;
echo "</BR>";
echo $class1 -> CallByRef($myByRef);
echo "</BR>";
echo "Now value of ByRef Variable: ".$myByRef;
echo $myByRef;
?>
Anonymous (2010-07-04 17:17:31)
As suggested before, you'll likely have to use a full assembly string including the assembly name, the assembly version (not the dll file version), the culture, and the public key token. Otherwise, you'll get a 'file not found' catchable error. To quickly find this on your own system to get the ball rolling, open C:\Windows\assembly in explorer (not in cmd as that shows a different view), scroll down the list until you find the assembly you want to work with, hover the mouse over it, and the tooltip shows the exact string to use (though processcorArchitecture if shown is optional). You'll have to use .net utilities or other methods to automate collecting this info on other machines.
You'll also have to use the fully-qualified class name. In other words, if you want to use the 'Form' class within 'System.Windows.Forms', you have to use the full class hierarchy 'System.Windows.Forms.Form'. Otherwise you'll get an unhelpful 'Failed to instantiate .Net object' catchable error.
The following example shows the correct syntax to use the 'Form' class to pop up a blank form from php-cli, which can be used in leu of many Windows GUI PHP extensions out there. Replace Version with your local version, and PublicKeyToken with your own local key token.
<?php
$full_assembly_string = 'System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=a8425bc35256e463';
$full_class_name = 'System.Windows.Forms.Form';
$form = new DOTNET($full_assembly_string, $full_class_name);
// code to add buttons, menus, text, etc
$form->Show();
$form_event = '';
while($form_event !== 'close') {
// handle form functions and events
}
?>
murat at muratyaman dot co dot uk (2010-02-11 17:46:38)
First, I hit the same mine:
"... Failed to instantiate .Net object [Unwrapped, QI for IDispatch] [0x80004002] No such interface supported ..."
In order to load the assembly and class in it successfully, I had to change my AssemblyInfo.cs file regarding the visibility of the types in it.
// some code above
// This sets the default COM visibility of types in the assembly to invisible.
// If you need to expose a type to COM, use [ComVisible(true)] on that type.
[assembly: ComVisible(true)]
// some code below
m holmes at windowlogic dot com dot au (2009-09-21 21:31:21)
For strongly-named NET assemblies that are registered in the GAC, you can just use the assembly name
e.g: $x = new DOTNET ("myAssembly", "myClass");
For strongly-named NET assemblies that aren't registered in the GAC, you need to use the full assembly string
e.g. $x = new DOTNET('myAssembly, Version=X.X.X.X, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=ZZZZZZZZZZZZ', 'myClass');
You can't instantiate assemblies that haven't been strongly named.
"Strongly named" means that the assembly has a public key. To strongly name your own classes in Visual Studio, go to the Signing tab in the project properties and click the 'sign the assembly' box and choose a key file name.
To register an assembly in the GAC, there are various tools around to do that, but the easiest method is to drag-and-drop the compiled assembly into c:\windows\assembly using windows explorer (a shell extension is installed by default that handles registering dragged files).
kschroeder at mirageworks dot com (2009-04-08 11:55:32)
In order to find out what the PublicKeyToken value is, open up Explorer and go to c:\windows\assembly. In that directory you will see all of the registered assemblies along with their PublicKeyToken value.
Kai Sellgren (2009-03-26 09:14:55)
My HTTPD crashed everytime I used this feature. To fix it, I had to switch to CGI and now everything works fine.
G dot B dot Yahav at Gmail dot com (2009-03-05 00:30:13)
Here is a simple example using .NET Framework in PHP
<?php
$console = new DOTNET("mscorlib", "System.Console");
$varible = $console->ReadLine();
$console->WriteLine( "Varible: " . $varible );
$console->WriteLine();
unset( $varible );
unset( $console );
exit();
?>
sam at bitopia dot co dot uk (2008-05-02 08:54:55)
If you want to load any other assembly apart from mscorlib, you'll need to include it like the following
$x = new DOTNET('The.Assembly.Name, Version=X.X.X.X, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=ZZZZZZZZZZZZ', 'The.Class.Name');
Replace all relevant details.