Re: mb_string and ob_gzhandler() question

Hi,

Jean-Christian Imbeault <[email protected]> wrote:

> I remember reading somewhere a while back that the where problems with 
> using mb_string and setting output_handler in php.ini but I can't seem 
> to find anything in the PHP documentation that says it's a bad idea.
>
> I'm thinking of installing either ob_gzhanlder() or my own 
> output_handler (which would tidy op the HTML using Tidy and then gzip 
> the output). However my PHP installation is set up to use mb_string 
> (mbstring.encoding_translation = On).

Just for clarification:

1. mbstring.encoding_translation has nothing to do 
with mb_output_handler indeed. It only affects form processing behaviour, 
while mb_output_handler converts the output encoding from 
internal_encoding to http.output. The following diagram illustrates 
how the mbstring extension works in the script execution.

[FORM INPUT] (mbstring.http_input)
       |
       | conversion (if mbstring.encoding_translation=on)
       |
[SCRIPT VARIABLES] (mbstring.internal_encoding)
       |
       | conversion (if output_handler is set to "mb_output_handler")
       |
[SCRIPT OUTPUT TO THE BROWSER] (mbstring.http_output)

2. Output encoding conversion can be achieved by 
putting ob_start('mb_output_handler') at the top of your 
script as output_handler directive actually instructs php to does the same 
operation to the output buffering facility at the start of script 
execution.

3. It's not possible to add ob_gzhandler() to the output handler stack 
before mb_output_handler(), because it doesn't make sense at all to 
transform the data already gzip-encoded, which is irrelevant to any 
"human-readable" encodings, by mb_output_handler(). But this restriction
is not documented yet as far as I know.

<?php
/* this works */
ob_start('ob_gzhandler');
ob_start('mb_output_handler');
?>

<?php
/* this doesn't work */
ob_start('mb_output_handler');
ob_start('ob_gzhandler');
?>

> Is there still (if there ever was) a problem with using mb_string and 
> setting up my own output handler?

How did you set up the output handlers in your script? I didn't ever
encountered a problem with any combos of mb_output_handler() and a custom 
output handler.

Regards,

Moriyoshi


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