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diff --git a/README.STREAMS b/README.STREAMS new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f625406 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.STREAMS @@ -0,0 +1,379 @@ +An Overview of the PHP Streams abstraction +========================================== +$Id$ + +WARNING: some prototypes in this file are out of date. +The information contained here is being integrated into +the PHP manual - stay tuned... + +Please send comments to: Wez Furlong <wez@thebrainroom.com> + +Why Streams? +============ +You may have noticed a shed-load of issock parameters flying around the PHP +code; we don't want them - they are ugly and cumbersome and force you to +special case sockets and files every time you need to work with a "user-level" +PHP file pointer. +Streams take care of that and present the PHP extension coder with an ANSI +stdio-alike API that looks much nicer and can be extended to support non file +based data sources. + +Using Streams +============= +Streams use a php_stream* parameter just as ANSI stdio (fread etc.) use a +FILE* parameter. + +The main functions are: + +PHPAPI size_t php_stream_read(php_stream * stream, char * buf, size_t count); +PHPAPI size_t php_stream_write(php_stream * stream, const char * buf, size_t + count); +PHPAPI size_t php_stream_printf(php_stream * stream TSRMLS_DC, + const char * fmt, ...); +PHPAPI int php_stream_eof(php_stream * stream); +PHPAPI int php_stream_getc(php_stream * stream); +PHPAPI char *php_stream_gets(php_stream * stream, char *buf, size_t maxlen); +PHPAPI int php_stream_close(php_stream * stream); +PHPAPI int php_stream_flush(php_stream * stream); +PHPAPI int php_stream_seek(php_stream * stream, off_t offset, int whence); +PHPAPI off_t php_stream_tell(php_stream * stream); +PHPAPI int php_stream_lock(php_stream * stream, int mode); + +These (should) behave in the same way as the ANSI stdio functions with similar +names: fread, fwrite, fprintf, feof, fgetc, fgets, fclose, fflush, fseek, ftell, flock. + +Opening Streams +=============== +In most cases, you should use this API: + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_open_wrapper(char *path, char *mode, + int options, char **opened_path TSRMLS_DC); + +Where: + path is the file or resource to open. + mode is the stdio compatible mode eg: "wb", "rb" etc. + options is a combination of the following values: + IGNORE_PATH (default) - don't use include path to search for the file + USE_PATH - use include path to search for the file + IGNORE_URL - do not use plugin wrappers + REPORT_ERRORS - show errors in a standard format if something + goes wrong. + STREAM_MUST_SEEK - If you really need to be able to seek the stream + and don't need to be able to write to the original + file/URL, use this option to arrange for the stream + to be copied (if needed) into a stream that can + be seek()ed. + + opened_path is used to return the path of the actual file opened, + but if you used STREAM_MUST_SEEK, may not be valid. You are + responsible for efree()ing opened_path. opened_path may be (and usually + is) NULL. + +If you need to open a specific stream, or convert standard resources into +streams there are a range of functions to do this defined in php_streams.h. +A brief list of the most commonly used functions: + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_fopen_from_file(FILE *file, const char *mode); + Convert a FILE * into a stream. + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_fopen_tmpfile(void); + Open a FILE * with tmpfile() and convert into a stream. + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_fopen_temporary_file(const char *dir, + const char *pfx, char **opened_path TSRMLS_DC); + Generate a temporary file name and open it. + +There are some network enabled relatives in php_network.h: + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_sock_open_from_socket(int socket, int persistent); + Convert a socket into a stream. + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_sock_open_host(const char *host, unsigned short port, + int socktype, int timeout, int persistent); + Open a connection to a host and return a stream. + +PHPAPI php_stream *php_stream_sock_open_unix(const char *path, int persistent, + struct timeval *timeout); + Open a UNIX domain socket. + + +Stream Utilities +================ + +If you need to copy some data from one stream to another, you will be please +to know that the streams API provides a standard way to do this: + +PHPAPI size_t php_stream_copy_to_stream(php_stream *src, + php_stream *dest, size_t maxlen); + +If you want to copy all remaining data from the src stream, pass +PHP_STREAM_COPY_ALL as the maxlen parameter, otherwise maxlen indicates the +number of bytes to copy. +This function will try to use mmap where available to make the copying more +efficient. + +If you want to read the contents of a stream into an allocated memory buffer, +you should use: + +PHPAPI size_t php_stream_copy_to_mem(php_stream *src, char **buf, + size_t maxlen, int persistent); + +This function will set buf to the address of the buffer that it allocated, +which will be maxlen bytes in length, or will be the entire length of the +data remaining on the stream if you set maxlen to PHP_STREAM_COPY_ALL. +The buffer is allocated using pemalloc(); you need to call pefree() to +release the memory when you are done. +As with copy_to_stream, this function will try use mmap where it can. + +If you have an existing stream and need to be able to seek() it, you +can use this function to copy the contents into a new stream that can +be seek()ed: + +PHPAPI int php_stream_make_seekable(php_stream *origstream, php_stream **newstream); + +It returns one of the following values: +#define PHP_STREAM_UNCHANGED 0 /* orig stream was seekable anyway */ +#define PHP_STREAM_RELEASED 1 /* newstream should be used; origstream is no longer valid */ +#define PHP_STREAM_FAILED 2 /* an error occurred while attempting conversion */ +#define PHP_STREAM_CRITICAL 3 /* an error occurred; origstream is in an unknown state; you should close origstream */ + +make_seekable will always set newstream to be the stream that is valid +if the function succeeds. +When you have finished, remember to close the stream. + +NOTE: If you only need to seek forward, there is no need to call this +function, as the php_stream_seek can emulate forward seeking when the +whence parameter is SEEK_CUR. + +NOTE: Writing to the stream may not affect the original source, so it +only makes sense to use this for read-only use. + +NOTE: If the origstream is network based, this function will block +until the whole contents have been downloaded. + +NOTE: Never call this function with an origstream that is referenced +as a resource! It will close the origstream on success, and this +can lead to a crash when the resource is later used/released. + +NOTE: If you are opening a stream and need it to be seekable, use the +STREAM_MUST_SEEK option to php_stream_open_wrapper(); + +PHPAPI int php_stream_supports_lock(php_stream * stream); + +This function will return either 1 (success) or 0 (failure) indicating whether or +not a lock can be set on this stream. Typically you can only set locks on stdio streams. + +Casting Streams +=============== +What if your extension needs to access the FILE* of a user level file pointer? +You need to "cast" the stream into a FILE*, and this is how you do it: + +FILE * fp; +php_stream * stream; /* already opened */ + +if (php_stream_cast(stream, PHP_STREAM_AS_STDIO, (void*)&fp, REPORT_ERRORS) == FAILURE) { + RETURN_FALSE; +} + +The prototype is: + +PHPAPI int php_stream_cast(php_stream * stream, int castas, void ** ret, int + show_err); + +The show_err parameter, if non-zero, will cause the function to display an +appropriate error message of type E_WARNING if the cast fails. + +castas can be one of the following values: +PHP_STREAM_AS_STDIO - a stdio FILE* +PHP_STREAM_AS_FD - a generic file descriptor +PHP_STREAM_AS_SOCKETD - a socket descriptor + +If you ask a socket stream for a FILE*, the abstraction will use fdopen to +create it for you. Be warned that doing so may cause buffered data to be lost +if you mix ANSI stdio calls on the FILE* with php stream calls on the stream. + +If your system has the fopencookie function, php streams can synthesize a +FILE* on top of any stream, which is useful for SSL sockets, memory based +streams, data base streams etc. etc. + +In situations where this is not desirable, you should query the stream +to see if it naturally supports FILE *. You can use this code snippet +for this purpose: + + if (php_stream_is(stream, PHP_STREAM_IS_STDIO)) { + /* can safely cast to FILE* with no adverse side effects */ + } + +You can use: + +PHPAPI int php_stream_can_cast(php_stream * stream, int castas) + +to find out if a stream can be cast, without actually performing the cast, so +to check if a stream is a socket you might use: + +if (php_stream_can_cast(stream, PHP_STREAM_AS_SOCKETD) == SUCCESS) { + /* it can be a socket */ +} + +Please note the difference between php_stream_is and php_stream_can_cast; +stream_is tells you if the stream is a particular type of stream, whereas +can_cast tells you if the stream can be forced into the form you request. +The former doesn't change anything, while the later *might* change some +state in the stream. + +Stream Internals +================ + +There are two main structures associated with a stream - the php_stream +itself, which holds some state information (and possibly a buffer) and a +php_stream_ops structure, which holds the "virtual method table" for the +underlying implementation. + +The php_streams ops struct consists of pointers to methods that implement +read, write, close, flush, seek, gets and cast operations. Of these, an +implementation need only implement write, read, close and flush. The gets +method is intended to be used for streams if there is an underlying method +that can efficiently behave as fgets. The ops struct also contains a label +for the implementation that will be used when printing error messages - the +stdio implementation has a label of "STDIO" for example. + +The idea is that a stream implementation defines a php_stream_ops struct, and +associates it with a php_stream using php_stream_alloc. + +As an example, the php_stream_fopen() function looks like this: + +PHPAPI php_stream * php_stream_fopen(const char * filename, const char * mode) +{ + FILE * fp = fopen(filename, mode); + php_stream * ret; + + if (fp) { + ret = php_stream_alloc(&php_stream_stdio_ops, fp, 0, 0, mode); + if (ret) + return ret; + + fclose(fp); + } + return NULL; +} + +php_stream_stdio_ops is a php_stream_ops structure that can be used to handle +FILE* based streams. + +A socket based stream would use code similar to that above to create a stream +to be passed back to fopen_wrapper (or it's yet to be implemented successor). + +The prototype for php_stream_alloc is this: + +PHPAPI php_stream * php_stream_alloc(php_stream_ops * ops, void * abstract, + size_t bufsize, int persistent, const char * mode) + +ops is a pointer to the implementation, +abstract holds implementation specific data that is relevant to this instance +of the stream, +bufsize is the size of the buffer to use - if 0, then buffering at the stream +level will be disabled (recommended for underlying sources that implement +their own buffering - such a FILE*), +persistent controls how the memory is to be allocated - persistently so that +it lasts across requests, or non-persistently so that it is freed at the end +of a request (it uses pemalloc), +mode is the stdio-like mode of operation - php streams places no real meaning +in the mode parameter, except that it checks for a 'w' in the string when +attempting to write (this may change). + +The mode parameter is passed on to fdopen/fopencookie when the stream is cast +into a FILE*, so it should be compatible with the mode parameter of fopen(). + +Writing your own stream implementation +====================================== + +!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! +RULE #1: when writing your own streams: make sure you have configured PHP with +--enable-debug. +I've taken some great pains to hook into the Zend memory manager to help track +down allocation problems. It will also help you spot incorrect use of the +STREAMS_DC, STREAMS_CC and the semi-private STREAMS_REL_CC macros for function +definitions. +!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! + +RULE #2: Please use the stdio stream as a reference; it will help you +understand the semantics of the stream operations, and it will always +be more up to date than these docs :-) + +First, you need to figure out what data you need to associate with the +php_stream. For example, you might need a pointer to some memory for memory +based streams, or if you were making a stream to read data from an RDBMS like +MySQL, you might want to store the connection and rowset handles. + +The stream has a field called abstract that you can use to hold this data. +If you need to store more than a single field of data, define a structure to +hold it, allocate it (use pemalloc with the persistent flag set +appropriately), and use the abstract pointer to refer to it. + +For structured state you might have this: + +struct my_state { + MYSQL conn; + MYSQL_RES * result; +}; + +struct my_state * state = pemalloc(sizeof(struct my_state), persistent); + +/* initialize the connection, and run a query, using the fields in state to + * hold the results */ + +state->result = mysql_use_result(&state->conn); + +/* now allocate the stream itself */ +stream = php_stream_alloc(&my_ops, state, 0, persistent, "r"); + +/* now stream->abstract == state */ + +Once you have that part figured out, you can write your implementation and +define the your own php_stream_ops struct (we called it my_ops in the above +example). + +For example, for reading from this weird MySQL stream: + +static size_t php_mysqlop_read(php_stream * stream, char * buf, size_t count) +{ + struct my_state * state = (struct my_state*)stream->abstract; + + if (buf == NULL && count == 0) { + /* in this special case, php_streams is asking if we have reached the + * end of file */ + if (... at end of file ...) + return EOF; + else + return 0; + } + + /* pull out some data from the stream and put it in buf */ + ... mysql_fetch_row(state->result) ... + /* we could do something strange, like format the data as XML here, + and place that in the buf, but that brings in some complexities, + such as coping with a buffer size too small to hold the data, + so I won't even go in to how to do that here */ +} + +Implement the other operations - remember that write, read, close and flush +are all mandatory. The rest are optional. Declare your stream ops struct: + +php_stream_ops my_ops = { + php_mysqlop_write, php_mysqlop_read, php_mysqlop_close, + php_mysqlop_flush, NULL, NULL, NULL, + "Strange MySQL example" +} + +Thats it! + +Take a look at the STDIO implementation in streams.c for more information +about how these operations work. +The main thing to remember is that in your close operation you need to release +and free the resources you allocated for the abstract field. In the case of +the example above, you need to use mysql_free_result on the rowset, close the +connection and then use pefree to dispose of the struct you allocated. +You may read the stream->persistent field to determine if your struct was +allocated in persistent mode or not. + +vim:tw=78:et |