newbie question :-|

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On 2004-08-15 17:48, Michael Rottmeier <Michael-Rottmeier at t-online.de> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> my question is not primariyl related to FreeBSD but more to FreeBSD
> and PHP 4.
>
> I'm writing the 2nd version of a larger project in PHP and want to use
> a php command which launches (if the server is a Windows machine) a
> simple text editor; here's what I do if the php script is run on a
> Windows Server:
>
> [code]
>   //start Notepad.exe minimized in the background:
>   $WshShell = new COM("WScript.Shell");
>   $oExec = $WshShell->Run("notepad.exe ,1, false);
> [/code]
>
> I know that the COM command is not supported on FreeBSD according to
> the php manual but I'm searching the web now for hours and hours
> looking for a way to port this piece of code to something working when
> the script is run on a FreeBSD server.
>
> What is important is that the started text editor (here on Windows:
> notepad.exe) should be visible to the user.

This would be a very dangerous thing to allow on a web page.  The
implications of running a text editor remotely, with direct access to
the server's filesystem would be horrible.

Are you really, absolutely sure you want to do this?

> Can anybody give me please some clues for this problem?!

A better idea would probably be to present a web-interface for limited
editing of text snippets.  Something similar to what a wiki does.  You'd
then have control of what the user can edit, which parts of the text he
can edit *AND* get to validate the data when he hits "POST" with your
own logic.

- Giorgos