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XCVIII. Stream functionsIntroductionStreams were introduced with PHP 4.3.0 as a way of generalizing file, network, data compression, and other opperations which share a common set of functions and uses. In its simplest definition, a stream is a resource object which exhibits streamable behavior. That is, it can be read from or written to in a linear fashion, and may be able to fseek() to an arbitrary locations within the stream. A wrapper is additional code which tells the stream how to handle specific protocols/encodings. For example, the http wrapper knows how to translate a URL into an HTTP/1.0 request for a file on a remote server. There are many wrappers built into PHP by default (See Appendix I), and additional, custom wrappers may be added either within a PHP script using stream_register_wrapper(), or directly from an extension using the API Reference in Chapter 43. Because any variety of wrapper may be added to PHP, there is no set limit on what can be done with them. To access the list of currently registered wrappers, use stream_get_wrappers(). Stream FiltersA filter is a final piece of code which may perform opperations on data as it is being read from or written to a stream. Any number of filters may be stacked onto a stream. Custom filters can be defined in a PHP script using stream_register_filter() or in an extension using the API Reference in Chapter 43. To access the list of currently registered filters, use stream_get_filters(). A stream is referenced as: scheme://target
Stream ContextsA context is a set of parameters and wrapper specific options which modify or enhance the behavior of a stream. Contexts are created using stream_context_create() and can be passed to most filesystem realted stream creation functions (i.e. fopen(), file(), file_get_contents(), etc...). Options can be specified when calling stream_context_create(), or later using stream_context_set_option(). A list of wrapper specific options can be found with the list of built-in wrappers (See Appendix I). In addition, parameters may be set on a context using stream_context_set_params(). Currently the only context parameter supported by PHP is notification. The value of this parameter must be the name of a function to be called when an event occurs on a stream. The notification function called during an event should accept the following six parameters: void my_notifier ( int notification_code, int severity, string message, int message_code, int bytes_transferred, int bytes_max)notification_code and severity are numerical values which correspond to the STREAM_NOTIFY_* constants listed below. If a descriptive message is available from the stream, message and message_code will be populated with the appropriate values. The meaning of these values is dependant on the specific wrapper in use. bytes_transferred and bytes_max will be populated when applicable. InstallationStreams are an integral part of PHP as of version 4.3.0. No steps are required to enable them. Stream ClassesUser designed wrappers can be registered via stream_register_wrapper(), using the class definition shown on that manual page. class php_user_filter is predefined and is an abstract baseclass for use with user defined filters. See the manual page for stream_register_filter() for details on implementing user defined filters. Predefined ConstantsThe constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.
Stream ErrorsAs with any file or socket related function, an opperation on a stream may fail for a variety of normal reasons (i.e.: Unable to connect to remote host, file not found, etc...). A stream related call may also fail because the desired stream is not registered on the running system. See the array returned by stream_get_wrappers() for a list of streams supported by your installation of PHP. As with most PHP internal functions if a failure occours an E_WARNING message will be generated describing the nature of the error. Examples
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