The dotnet class
The dotnet class allows you to instantiate a class from a .Net assembly and call its methods and access its properties, if the class and the methods and properties are » visible to COM.
Neither instantiating static classes nor calling static methods is supported. Instantiating generic classes such as System.Collections.Generic.List is not supported either.
Some .Net classes do not implement IDispatch, so while they can be instantiated, calling methods or accessing properties on these classes is not supported.
Note:
You need to install the .Net runtime on your web server to take advantage of this feature.
Note:
Prior to PHP 8.0.0, .Net framework 4.0 and later were not supported by the dotnet class. If assemblies had been registered with regasm.exe, the classes could be instantiated as com objects, though. As of PHP 8.0.0, .Net framework 4.0 and later are supported via the php.ini directive com.dotnet_version.
Class synopsis
Overloaded Methods
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.
dotnet examples
Example #1 dotnet example
$stack = new dotnet ( «mscorlib» , «System.Collections.Stack» );
$stack -> Push ( «.Net» );
$stack -> Push ( «Hello » );
echo $stack -> Pop () . $stack -> Pop ();
?>
Table of Contents
User Contributed Notes 12 notes
Create an Excel Workbook using DOTNET.
$full_assembly_string = ‘Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c’ ;
$full_class_name = ‘Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass’ ;
$e = new DOTNET ( $full_assembly_string , $full_class_name );
$wb = $e -> workbooks -> add ();
$Precios = $wb -> Worksheets ( 1 );
$Precios -> Name = ‘Precios’ ;
$Venta = $wb -> Worksheets ( 2 );
$Venta -> Name = ‘Venta’ ;
$Tons = $wb -> Worksheets ( 3 );
$Tons -> Name = ‘Tons’ ;
$Meses = Array( ‘2014-01’ , ‘2014-02’ , ‘2014-03’ , ‘2014-04’ , ‘2014-05’ , ‘2014-06’ , ‘2014-07’ , ‘2014-08’ , ‘2014-09’ , ‘2014-10’ , ‘2014-11’ , ‘2014-12’ );
foreach ( $Meses as $Numero => $Mes ) $Precios -> Range ( «A» . ( $Numero + 1 ))-> Value = $Mes ;
>
$wb -> SaveAs ( ‘c:\temp\Meta.2014.05.xlsx’ );
$wb -> Close ();
?>
Go to c:\windows\assembly to know what value to put in $full_assembly_string.
If you don’t know the assembly, use http://www.red-gate.com/products/dotnet-development/reflector/ to browse it, use what you learn there to fill $full_class_name.
Using COM and DOTNET directly is quite a nightmare. DOTNET only allows you to target .Net 3.5 and below, and all the binaries need to be COM Visible. This basically means that you will need to write your own .Net binaries for everything, at least wrappers.
There is a library out there (NetPhp) built on top of the COM class that will solve all these issues, so you can get code like this:
$manager = new \NetPhp\Core\NetManager();
$manager->RegisterAssembly(‘mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089’, ‘mscorlib’);
$manager->RegisterClass(‘mscorlib’, ‘System.IO.File’, ‘File’);
$manager->RegisterClass(‘mscorlib’, ‘System.IO.FileOptions’, ‘FileOptions’);
$file = $manager->Create(‘mscorlib’, ‘File’);
$fileoptions = $manager->Create(‘mscorlib’, ‘System.IO.FileOptions’)->Enum(‘Encrypted’);
$file->Create(«C:\\www\\prueba.tres», 2048, $fileoptions);
I worked with this the last few days and figured it out.
On stack overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/a/51541801/1442225
PHP searches only GAC for .NET 2.0 runtime, so your DLL has to be targeted 2.0 — 3.5 framework.
Also it recognize only classes, not stucts, so you can’t instantiate DateTime for example.
using dotnet with visual studio 2015 (and net framework 4.6.1 but its the same with others).
1) In visual studio 2015, created a library project (in this case a C#)
2) Double click in the project -> build events -> post build
«C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools\gacutil.exe» /i «$(TargetPath)»
When the project its compiled, it adds to the GAC automatically. Please changes the bin folder according your installation.
3) in tools -> External tools, add the next external tool
Title: Get Qualified Assembly Name
Command: Powershell.exe
Arguments: -command «[System.Reflection.AssemblyName]::GetAssemblyName(\»$(TargetPath)\»).FullName»
User Output Windows : checks
4) run tools -> Get qualified Assembly Name and checks the output windows
5) Creates the next class (Class1 may be its already creates)
namespace ClassLibrary2 // public class Class1
public string Ping(string t1,string t2)
return «pong «+t1+t2;
>
>
>
$full=»ClassLibrary2, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=746927f9726d7222″; // its from the output windows
$class = ‘ClassLibrary2.Class1’; // its the namespace and the class.
$stack = new DOTNET($full,$class);
$r1=»hello»;
$r2=»world»;
echo $stack->Ping($r1,$r2);
IMPORTANT NOTE: PHP «caches» the dll library, so every time that the dll library is compiled, the php service should be restarted (restart the apache service).
IMPORTANT NOTE 2: May be you should run Visual Studio as an Administrator.
How to use donet class for creating object of parameterized constructor
private SGF ingerPrintManager m_FPM; //member variable
SGFPMDeviceName device_name = SGFPMDeviceName.DEV_ FDU02 ;
m_FPM = new SGF ingerPrintManager (device_name);
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 & «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
$class1 = new DOTNET ( «DotNetTest,»
. «Version=1.0.0.0,»
. «Culture=neutral,»
. «PublicKeyToken=6675daefc27eafc4»
, «DotNetTest.Class1» );
echo $class1 -> SayHello ( «Hi PHP. » );
echo «
$parameter [ 0 ] = 12345 ;
$parameter [ 1 ] = «MyString» ;
$parameter [ 2 ] = false ;
$ret = $class1 -> ConcatArray ( $parameter );
echo $ret ;
echo «
$Obj = $class1 -> ReturnObject ( «Sandip» , «Shimpi» );
echo $Obj -> FirstName . » » . $Obj -> LastName ;
echo «
» ;$myByRef = «» ;
echo «Value of ByRef Variable before calling .net CallByRef() method: » . $myByRef ;
echo «» ;
echo $class1 -> CallByRef ( $myByRef );
echo «» ;
echo «Now value of ByRef Variable: » . $myByRef ;
echo $myByRef ;
?>
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.
$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_event = » ;
while( $form_event !== ‘close’ )
// handle form functions and events