====== Embeder - Make an executable Windows-binary file from a PHP script ======

**What is it ?** Embeder is a little command line utility that allow the creation of Windows binary that runs PHP scripts.

**How does it work ?** It make use of the embed PHP SAPI and [[index|win32std]].

**Pre-requisites :** For the binary version you need the [[php>downloads.php|PHP5 binaries]].

**Note :**
You can do the same by including the resource before the compilation in any Visual Studio Project it's explained [[howto:embeding_a_php_source_into_a_windows_executable_file|here]].

**License :** [[http://www.php.net/license/3_0.txt|PHP License]]

**Download :** [[:downloads#Embeder|Download page]]

**Tutorial :** [[win32std:embeder_tutorial|Embeder's tutorial]]

===== Synopsis =====

<code>embeder.exe action [params...]</code>

===== Embeder's actions =====

=== new ===

Creates a new binary.
For now only the ''console'' type is available.

== Parameters ==
  * ''name'' : Name of the binary (without the ''.exe'')

== Ex: ==
<code>
C:\php\embeder>embeder new test
'.\test.exe' created
</code>

=== main ===

Put a script as the main script.

== Parameters ==
  * ''name'' : Name of the binary (without the ''.exe'')
  * ''file'' : Filename of the file to add.

== Note == 
The file will be added in ''PHP/RUN''.

== Ex: ==

<code>
C:\php\embeder>embeder main test res/run.php
Updated 'res://.\test.exe/PHP/RUN' with 533 bytes
</code>

=== add ===

Add a file used by a script to the binary.

== Parameters ==
  * ''name'' : Name of the binary (without the ''.exe'')
  * ''file'' : Filename of the file to add.

== Note == 
The file will be added in ''PHP/{KEY}'' where ''{KEY}'' is ''md5(file)''.

== Ex: ==

<code>
C:\php\embeder>embeder add test out/console.exe
Updated 'res://.\test.exe/PHP/54a17e0796234b90551e35f245e5409e' with 20480 bytes
</code>

=== list ===

List the content of a binary file.

== Parameters ==
  * ''name'' : Name of the binary (without the ''.exe'')

== Ex: ==

<code>
C:\php\embeder>embeder list test
Res list of '.\test.exe':
PHP
        54A17E0796234B90551E35F245E5409E
        RUN
RT_ICON
        #1
        #2
RT_GROUP_ICON
        #101
</code>


=== view ===

View a binary file resource

== Parameters ==
  * ''name'' : binary name (without the ''.exe'')
  * ''section'' : resource's section (ie: "PHP")
  * ''value'' : resource's key
== Ex: ==

<code>
C:\php\embeder>embeder view test PHP RUN
-Displaying 'res://.\test.exe/PHP/RUN'
<?
//========================================================================
//       Embeder - Make an executable Windows-binary file from a PHP script
//
//       License : PHP License (http://www.php.net/license/3_0.txt)
//       Author : Eric Colinet <e dot colinet at laposte dot net>
//       http://wildphp.free.fr/wiki/doku?id=win32std:embeder
//========================================================================
?>
<?=basename($argv[0])?> - Powered by PHP version <?=phpversion()."\n"?>
Empty base binary.

-End
</code>

===== Exemple scripts =====

  * Find exemple scripts in the [[:downloads#embeder|distribution]] under ''test_project/''.
  * Also check the [[win32std:embeder_tutorial|Embeder's tutorial]]

===== TODO =====

  * Allow an intermediate state ([[http://www.coggeshall.org/oss/blenc//index.php/5/|blenc-oding]] ?)
  * Due to a win32std limitation the function file_exists doesn't work properly with ''_f''
  * Make the win32std check in main.cpp
  * Define EMBEDED_DATE and EMBEDED_VERSION containing the creation date & Software version (available for r/w by embeder's date/version actions)
  * Add multiples ''exe'' types.
  * Define EMBEDED_{TYPE} to reflect the exe type

===== FAQ  =====

==== How to get rid of the DOS box ? ====

  * Using MSVC tools :
<code>editbin /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS some.exe</code>

  * You can also use some simple small //Perl// script to change the byte in the exe header (available [[http://jenda.krynicky.cz/perl/GUIscripts.html|here]]).

=> Thanks to [[http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/home/rurban/|Reini Urban]] for this trick.

**NEW : ** You can also use my [[http://wildphp.free.fr/dl.php?file=exetype-bin-20050118.zip|PHP port of exetype]].

==== My script doesn't run (w/o DOS box) ====

There is a drawback of using the standard ''embed'' SAPI in the ''WINDOWS SUBSYSTEM'' : If you output something ''embed'' will silently consider that the connection is aborded (write to ''stdout'' fail - [[http://cvs.php.net/co.php/php-src/sapi/embed/php_embed.c?r=1.9#55|Ref]]).

One of the solutions is to buffer the output using ''ob_start''.

** On top of the main script :**
<code php>
function _write_null($txt) {}
ob_start('_write_null');
</code>

** Or shorter:**
<code php>
ob_start(create_function('$txt', ''));
</code>

==== Transparent file access (How to ?) ====

To access files transparently you can use a filename wrapper:
<code php>
function _f($file, $force=false) { return $force||defined('EMBEDED')?'res:///PHP/'.md5($file):$file; }
</code>

**Note:** The constant EMBEDED is defined by ''Embeder''.

And then, for each reference to a file, enclose the filename by your wrapper function:
<code php> 
include _f('include.inc');
</code>

Look at [[win32std:Embeder#Exemple scripts|Exemple scripts]] for an exemple.