php/ext/java/README

What is PHP4 ext/java?

   PHP4 ext/java provides a simple and effective means for creating and
   invoking methods on Java objects from PHP.  The JVM is created using JNI,
   and everthing runs in-process.

   Two examples are provided, jver and jawt, to illustrate usage of this
   extension.  A few things to note:

     1) new Java() will create an instance of a class if a suitable constructor
        is available.  If no parameters are passed and the default constructor
        is useful as it provides access to classes like "java.lang.System"
        which expose most of their functionallity through static methods.

     2) Accessing a member of an instance will first look for bean properties
        then public fields.  In other words, "print $date.time" will first
        attempt to be resolved as "$date.getTime()", then as "$date.time";

     3) Both static and instance members can be accessed on an object with
        the same syntax.  Furthermore, if the java object is of type
        "java.lang.Class", then static members

     4) Exceptions raised result in PHP warnings, and null results.

     5) Overload resolution is in general a hard problem given the
        differences in types between the two languages.  The PHP Java
	extension employs a simple, but fairly effective, metric for
	determining which overload is the best match.  

	Additionally, method names in PHP are not case sensitive, potentially
	increasing the number of overloads to select from.

	Once a method is selected, the parameters are cooerced if necessary, 
	possibly with a loss of data (example: double precision floating point
	numbers will be converted to boolean).

Build and execution instructions:

   Given the number of platforms and providers of JVMs, no single set of
   instructions will be able to cover all cases.  So in place of hard and
   fast instructions, below are a working examples for a number of free and
   commercial implementations and platforms.  Please adjust the paths to
   suit your installation.  Also, if you happen to get this to work on
   another JVM/platform combination, please let me know, particularly if
   a unique build or execution setup was required.

   This function has been tested in both CGI and Apache (apxs) modes.  As
   the current design requires shared libraries, this support can not be
   linked statically into Apache.

   With ext/java, no Java Virtual Machines are created until the first
   Java call is made.  This not only eliminates unnecessary overhead if
   the extension is never used, it also provides error messages directly
   back to the user instead of being burried in a log some place.

   For people interested in robustness, performance, and more complete
   integration with Java, consider using the sapi/servlet interface which
   is built upon the Java extension.  Running PHP as a servlet enables PHP 
   to utilize the existing JVM and threads from the servlet engine, and 
   provides direct access to the servlet request and response objects.

========================================================================
===   JVM=Kaffe 1.0.4 (as delivered with OS), OS=Redhat Linux 6.1    ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   ./configure --with-java

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.library.path=/usr/lib/kaffe:/home/rubys/php4/modules
   java.class.path=/usr/share/kaffe/Klasses.jar:/home/rubys/php4/modules/php_java.jar
   extension_dir=/home/rubys/php4/modules
   extension=libphp_java.so

========================================================================
===     JVM=Kaffe 1.0.5 (built from source), OS=Redhat Linux 6.1     ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   ./configure --with-java

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.library.path=/usr/local/lib/kaffe:/home/rubys/php4/modules
   java.class.path=/usr/local/share/kaffe/Klasses.jar:/home/rubys/php4/modules/php_java.jar
   extension_dir=/home/rubys/php4/modules
   extension=libphp_java.so

========================================================================
===                JVM=IBM 1.1.8, OS=Redhat Linux 6.1                ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   ./configure --with-java

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.class.path=/home/jdk118/lib/classes.zip:/home/rubys/php4/modules/php_java.jar
   extension_dir=/home/rubys/php4/modules
   extension=libphp_java.so

========================================================================
===           JVM=Blackdown 1.2.2 RC4, OS=Redhat Linux 6.1           ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   ./configure --with-java

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.class.path=/home/rubys/php4/lib/php_java.jar
   extension_dir=/home/rubys/php4/modules
   extension=libphp_java.so

========================================================================
===                    JVM=Sun JDK 1.2.2, OS=Linux                   ===
========================================================================

This compiler is not supported at this time.  At the moment, only green
threads are supported, requiring system calls to be wrapped, which is
incompatible with the JNI Invocation API.  Once native threads are
supported, It is expected that the configuration will be identical to
the Blackdown JDK. 

========================================================================
===                JVM=Sun JDK 1.1.8, OS=Windows NT 4                ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   SET JAVA_HOME=D:\jdk1.1.8
   msdev ext\java\java.dsp /MAKE "java - Win32 Debug_TS"

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.class.path="D:\jdk1.1.8\lib\classes.zip;F:\PHP4\Debug_TS\php_java.jar"
   extension=php_java.dll

========================================================================
===                JVM=Sun JDK 1.2.2, OS=Windows NT 4                ===
========================================================================

build instructions:

   SET JAVA_HOME=D:\jdk1.2.2
   msdev ext\java\java.dsp /MAKE "java - Win32 Debug_TS"

php.ini:

   [java]
   java.class.path=F:\PHP4\Debug_TS\php_java.jar
   extension=php_java.dll