sqlsrv.dll, PDO and PHP 5 on Windows via WAMP

Here’s one that had us stumped. We share this knowledge with anybody else who may be suffering from a similar situation. After publishing one of our WebApps to a client’s server, we were hit with an error stating that dblib wasn’t available. The solution was coded in PHP, with Zend Framework on a Centos 5 server. We are now publishing to a Windows Server 2008 machine running SQL Server 2008 and WAMP. Looking into the PHP manual, we realised that dblib was no longer supported on Windows. Instead, Microsoft have provided useful drivers to connect to SQL Server databases, which can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20098 OK, no problem, we downloaded the folders, copied them to the PHP “ext” folder and configured php.ini with the necessary lines, e.g. extension=php_pdo_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc9.dll But after restarting and checking a page with phpinfo(), we found the extension failed to load every time. It wouldn’t appear. PDO was installed and appearing, the MySQL extension registered fine too. After some investigation, we found the cause… The server contained the 64 bit version of WAMP installed, but the drivers for sqlsrv are only compatible with the 32 bit version. So after removing and installing the 32 bit version, all is well. This worked for us at least. WAMP version was WAMP 2.2, PHP 5.3.8. Server running Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008. Good luck!

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What is widget ?

widget 

In general, widget (pronounced WIH-jit ) is a term used to refer to any discrete object, usually of some mechanical nature and relatively small size, when it doesn't have a name, when you can't remember the name, or when you're talking about a class of certain unknown objects in general. (According to Eric Raymond, "legend has it that the original widgets were holders for buggy whips," but this was possibly written tongue-in-cheek.) 2) In computers, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface ( gui ) that displays information or provides a specific way for a user to interact with the operating system and application . Widgets include icons, pull-down menus, buttons, selection boxes, progress indicators, on-off checkmarks, scroll bars, windows, window edges (that let you resize the window), toggle buttons, forms, and many other devices for displaying information and for inviting, accepting, and responding to user actions. In programming, a widget also means the small program that is written in order to describe what a particular widget looks like, how it behaves, and how it interacts in response to user actions. Most operating systems include a set of ready-to-tailor widgets that a programmer can incorporate in an application, specifying how it is to behave. New widgets can be created. The term was apparently applied first in UNIX -based operating systems and the X Window System . In object-oriented programming ( oop ), each type of widget is defined as a class (or a subclass under a broad generic widget class) and is always associated with a particular window. In the AIX Enhanced X-Window Toolkit, a widget is the fundamental data type . Most if not all application development languages today, such as Java and Tool Command Language , come with a ready-made library of widgets that a programmer can incorporate and modify.


 reference http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/widget Contributor(s): David Higgins Posted by: Margaret Rouse