Re: [PHP] COM - Assigning to method.

Hello,

did you tried var_dump or print_r the $oBank object to see his structure ?

Also you can try:

  $BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME = 22;
  $oBank->$BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME  = 'something';


Premek.


On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:21:48 +0200, Adam Nicholls <[email protected]>  
wrote:

> Hi Andrew
>
> Thanks for this.
>
> But I'm still getting errors. I think I need to explain a bit more.
>
> Unfortunately there isn't a PHP API for this application I'm trying to
> interact with, my goal really is to be able to expose the COM
> functionality over a web-service such as SOAP so I can use it in a
> CMS. The application I'm trying to integrate with is Blackbuad's
> Raiser's Edge - API documentation here:
> https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/guides/re7ent/api.pdf
>
> I think part of the problem is that the field names are also
> represented by an integer. So to get data out I would do:
>
> $oBank->Fields(22);   // which maps to BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME.
>
> When I do:
>
> $oBank->22 = 'blah blah';
>
> I get an error because a property can't be numeric, it has to start as
> alpha character. If I use:
>
> $oBank->BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME = 'blah blah blah';
>
> I get the following error:
>
> Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'com_exception' with message 'Unable
> to lookup `BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME': Unknown name.
>
> I've also tried using your Value property returned by Fields():
>
> $oBank->Fields(22)->Value = 'Blah Blah blah blah';
>
> Which I then get:
> PHP Warning:  Creating default object from empty value in [C:\Users....]
> Fatal error: Call to undefined method variant::Save()
>
> Soo seems nearly impossible to implement a safe way to write to the COM  
> API.
>
>
> At the moment, I'm still in the scoping/prototype stage of my project,
> so I'm beginning to think that using this COM API for this project is
> a no-go, which is unfortunate. I'm also guessing even if we did
> implement this API, exposing it as a Web Service is going to be tricky
> for performance sake (given that I've read that COM doesn't
> multithread very well??)
>
> Many Thanks
> Adam.
>
> On 14 July 2013 22:16, Andrew Ballard <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Adam Nicholls <[email protected]>  
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Richard - I've tried that I get an error about it not being defined as
>>> property of the object.
>>>
>>> Andrew - do you mean try using the method Richard has shown?
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Adam.
>>>
>>> On 13 July 2013 17:11, Richard Quadling <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 13 July 2013 01:24, Andrew Ballard <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> On Jul 12, 2013 4:53 AM, "Adam Nicholls" <[email protected]>  
>>> wrote:
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Hi Guys/Gals,
>>> >> >
>>> >> > I'm doing some integration work with a COM API and according to  
>>> their
>>> >> > documentation to save data in the API, you have to assign to the
>>> >> > method.
>>> >> >
>>> >> > This is their example in Visual Basic:
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> >>  
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >> >     Set oBank = New CBank
>>> >> >     oBank.Init Application.SessionContext
>>> >> >     With oBank
>>> >> >         .Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME) = "Test account"
>>> >> >         .Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NO) = "12345"
>>> >> >         .Fields(BANK_fld_BANK) = "Bank of the Nation"
>>> >> >         .Fields(BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME) = "State Street Branch"
>>> >> >     End With
>>> >> >     oBank.Save
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> >>  
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Obviously in PHP is isn't possible to assign to a method in this  
>>> way
>>> >> > (thats what parameters are for!) So I'm at a bit of a loose end.  
>>> I'm
>>> >> > wondering if anyone else has come across this? Or am I missing
>>> >> > something obvious in PHP's implementation of the COM that allows  
>>> me to
>>> >> > work around this?
>>> >> >
>>> >> > My PHP Code is looks like this:
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> >>  
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >> > $API = new COM('API7.API');
>>> >> > $API->Init($SerialNo, $Login, '', 1, '', 1);
>>> >> > $API->SignOutOnTerminate = True;
>>> >> >
>>> >> > $Record = new COM("Data.Record");
>>> >> > $Record->Init($API->SessionContext);
>>> >> >
>>> >> > $Record->Fields('BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME') = 'Test  
>>> Account';//doesn't work
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> >>  
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >> >
>>> >> > I've also tried (below) but the API says wrong number of  
>>> parameters
>>> >> > $Record->Fields('BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME', 'Test Account');
>>> >> >
>>> >> > I've also tried something crazy like this (below) but that  
>>> overwrites
>>> >> > the $Record object.
>>> >> > $_R = &$Record->Fields('BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME');
>>> >> > $_R = 'Test Account';
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Any ideas? Is it possible?
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Many Thanks
>>> >> > Adam Nicholls
>>> >> >
>>> >>
>>> >> That example isn't assigning values to method return value. Fields  
>>> is a
>>> >> collection of ADO Field objects. The default property of a Field  
>>> object is
>>> >> its Value property, so the shorthand is simply assigning the values  
>>> of the
>>> >> variables to the value of each field in a record within a Recordset.
>>> >>
>>> >> Andrew
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > So ..
>>> >
>>> > $oBank->BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME = "Test account";
>>> >
>>> > sort of thing.
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Richard Quadling
>>> > Twitter : @RQuadling
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Adam Nicholls
>>
>> Richard has the general idea correct, but as I recall it is a little
>> more involved because it's COM. I've never done that much with COM in
>> PHP because it was always such a pain. The example you posted probably
>> used to require com_set() in PHP 4, although it looks like that has
>> been deprecated in favor of a more typical OO syntax in PHP 5. Is
>> there any chance there is a PHP version of the library that you can
>> work with to avoid COM? If not, hopefully what follows will help start
>> you on the right direction.
>>
>> A more explicit version of your original VBScript example looks like  
>> this:
>>
>> Set oBank = New CBank
>> oBank.Init Application.SessionContext
>>
>> Set oField = oBank.Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME)
>> oField.Value = "Test account"
>> Set oField = oBank.Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NO)
>> oField.Value = "12345"
>> Set oField = oBank.Fields(BANK_fld_BANK)
>> oField.Value = "Bank of the Nation"
>> Set oField = oBank.Fields(BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME)
>> oField.Value = "State Street Branch"
>>
>> oBank.Save
>>
>>
>> I'm not familiar with your CBank COM class, but the rest of it looks
>> like it is similar to the COM('ADODB.Recordset'). If so, a rough
>> translation of your original example should resemble this:
>>
>> <?php
>> // I'm not familiar with this object, so I'm guessing on the call to
>> instantiate it here.
>> $oBank = new COM('CBank');
>>
>> /**
>> Application.SessionContext in the original refers to an object that is
>> global to every request in an application. PHP does not have such a
>> global registry, so I'm not sure where you're $config needs to come
>> from.
>> */
>> $oBank->Init($config);
>>
>> /**
>> I am assuming that BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME and such are constant names
>> that were already defined with the names of the actual column names in
>> a recordset returned by $oBank.
>> */
>> $oBank->Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NAME)->Value = "Test account";
>> $oBank->Fields(BANK_fld_ACCOUNT_NO)->Value = "12345";
>> $oBank->Fields(BANK_fld_BANK)->Value = "Bank of the Nation";
>> $oBank->Fields(BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME)->Value = "State Street Branch";
>>
>> $oBank->Save();
>>
>> ?>
>>
>> I don't know if you could leave out the ->Value part of the syntax in
>> PHP like you can in the VBScript example you posted. If so, then
>> Richard's syntax would have been pretty close:
>>
>> $oBank->Fields(BANK_fld_BRANCH_NAME) = "State Street Branch";
>>
>> Andrew
>
>