apache2.2 with php5.2; nothing returned from php (on XP)

[gech]

Hi !

I have downloaded and installed Apache2.2, and then taken steps to install PHP5.2.

This to resurrect an environment I have had before, and worked well.

All seem ok, the apache html page content comes back (using local-loop in browser) ;

and the call to PHP seems to have been executed, but it comes back as blank, i.e. nothing is inserted where

the <?php echo "xxx"; ?> was placed. No errors reported in any step.

Any ideas what could be wrong ?

 

 

 

[benanamen]

Torn on error reporting and look at the error log.

[gech]

HI thanks,

well I have been looking into error loggs for apache

I also tried to make an fopen("x.dat","w"); (and fwrite and fclose)

but found no file (where i expected, ie. on htdocs where the test index.html file that im showing using explorer and localhost (http:127...)

which works fine for the html part content, but there the <?php statement just comes back as blank, and I cannot find any x.dat file create (on same dir as the .html  at least)

Guess you refer to error reporting in php ?

I have set error_reporting(E_ALL) first thing in php code (in .html doc); but i think that is already turned on since it is set in the php.ini i use.

[gech]

So i actually have not concluded if I ever enter the PHP processing (doesnt seem so since I get no x.dat file), or if it is the return text from the echo, from PHP that gets lost on going back to apache.

[benanamen]

The easiest way to get a correct LAMP stack working for older php is to run Laragon Portable with Php 5.4

 

https://laragon.org/

[gech]

Hmm might be true. But its actually not LAMP right off, its winXP, with A, then not MySq but MimerSq (through ODBC), and of cause PHP.

In some way I have concluded that 5.2 is the last A that is feasible (the g disrespect of size and complexity is monumental), so Im in the museum department. (I want light and fast things).

So I guess I struggle on for a while (and see if I can understand anything).

Thanks btw.

[gech]

So I note that it doesnt seem to make a difference if PHP is configured at all in the httpd.conf file or not;

removing the loadmodule for C:/php/php5apache2_2.dll (commenting out)

does not change results; the <?php echo "xxx"; ?> statement in .html is ignored in exactly the same silent mode ...

 

[benanamen]

Instead of spinning your wheels trying to configure your own dev just do what I told you and you will be up and running in seconds

[gech]

the answer is 17

well mostly I like to understand what Im doing, but you are surely perfectly right; in case I do not just move problems to get MimerSQL in

instead of MySQL..... (or is MySQL also connected via ODBC ?)

[requinix]

Do a View Source of the page in your browser. Do you see PHP code? If so then Apache has not been set up properly to run .php files.

[gech]

Hi requinix,

as I tried to explain; No there is no trace of the <?php echo "xxx"; ?> line that I have put into the index.html which contains text that I Do see in browser, when accessing through localhost address ( http://127.0.0.1:8080 )

 

[gech]

and since I have

display_error = on

in the php.ini file, I guess that php should return any error (what could go wrong with an echo statement !?) to the browser....

My think would be; that the php code within <?php ...... ?> is not properly passed to the php engine for some reason (are there any tools to check the 'api', how the passing from apache code to the php module; i have added the global path defintion with c:\php where the php .dll files are located)

[Barand]

3 hours ago, gech said:

No there is no trace of the <?php echo "xxx"; ?> line that I have put into the index.html

.html files are not processed by the php engine. (And as requinix told you, you would need to "View Source" to see any php code or anything else between <..> tags)

Try renaming that file as "index.php"

[gech]

wow, thats news;

In my old, now krasched Hd environment, any inclusion of <?php    start tag in a html code /   .html marked document would be sent and processed by php...

Ok, I have also an antiquated Internet explorer that has now clear "view source" only a button "source", which comes back with my original

file in an "notepad" window. There the php text is shown, but it is dubious whether the info is retreived via the localhost, or directly though file (since it pops up in an edit window, but that might only be old and good MS smartness)

But yes, the php code is there (but would that not just be displayed also in the browser window as "text" if php was not installed ?, does the php tag <?php give special handling (not include text) if php is not installed ? 

I will begin by downloading another browser to the work machine.

 

Thanx all

Edited September 12, 2019 by gech
complementing info

[gech]

SO, now I have installed another browser (firefox); and yes the php included text in the .html document is shown, although in another color (indicating that

firefox is the one that recognizes the php and removes it from display in the browser, I guess).  SO what in the installation of php in apache can have gone wrong ?

 

[requinix]

The most likely thing to have gone wrong is that you expect Apache to run .html files through PHP when basically nobody does that anymore. You have to edit the standard Apache+PHP setup so that it does what you want.

[gech]

Ok, I understand that I dont understand (,any more). I was of the impression that Apache found the php tag, and then sent the content up to the "untag", to php for processing, which return would then be inserted into the document;

you are suggesting that, instead, the php is running like some kind of preprocessing, solving all php, insering it into the document and then handing it back to apache for resolving the .html syntax parts ?

Or are you saying that I need to / have a choice to configure apache to work with <?php tags inside html labeled files ?

Edited September 12, 2019 by gech
clearer langugae

[Barand]

If you have PHP code in a file, rename it as .php.

Any HTML in the file will work exactly the same as in a .html file.

[requinix]

Here's how Apache and PHP handle a request. Basically.

1. Browser sends a request to Apache. It has lots of information but all we care about is the URI (URL) that it wants. Such as "/topic/309212-apache22-with-php52-nothing-returned-from-php-on-xp/".
2. Apache takes that URL and figures out what file it corresponds to. There's a lot that can happen here, but what matters here is that Apache found a (in this case) .html file.
3a. Now it has to decide what to do with the file. Are there any modules configured that want to deal with .html files? No. Additionally, .html probably means the "text/html" type. Are there any modules to deal with text/html? No. Apache dumps the file out to the browser.
3b. Say it was a .php file instead. There are a couple ways to configure PHP but let's pick the file extension one. Any modules for .php? Yes: mod_php. Apache tells mod_php to do whatever it wants to do.
3c. The other method is very similar: nothing to handle .php, however Apache knows the file as application/x-php (or something) and there is a module (mod_php) to handle that.

Apache doesn't care about what's in the file. It cares about what type of file it is, either by extension or by type. Your setup is presumably using the .php extension (or application/x-php-something type) because that's what normal people do. Thus Apache does not know your .html files should go through PHP. Thus what you need to do is actually tell Apache that you want .html (aka text/html) files to go through mod_php, and you do that by tweaking your current "set up PHP in Apache" configuration, which may be by extension or by type, to include HTML files.

[gech]

OK thanks a lot (for your time and sharing). I guess I still have some way to go to include your thinking into my thinking.

AND yes, you were absolutely right, it works when I lift the php code out to a file extended .php (as link from the .html)

So now I probably will associate .html with the application/x-php-   in my conf file so I dont need to go trough my whole old project and change (will see if my old conf file has survived the crash (which I of cause should have done earlier).

 

Many thanks again.  As usual the trivial is the most difficult with computers. The absolutly worst buggs to find are those that are no buggs, just odd features.