BestWebForms.com © 2009
 
 
 
 

Notes about PHP6, PHP5, PHP4, and .htaccess:

Our Web Forms Package should run under PHP4, PHP5, and PHP6.
But on some servers, some tweaking may be needed. See below.

Running under PHP5

With the adopting of PHP5 by most modern web hosts and control panels, there is a need to understand “how” your web host and server is running PHP5 in addition to just whether it supports it or not.

Apache 2.0x – 2.2x supports compiling either PHP4  or PHP5 or BOTH. If you are running both on your server – then your host will most likely have a protocol for invoking PHP 4 if PHP5 is running. More often than not this is done via a file extension such as “whatever.php4”.

This is because it is not possible to run both PHP5 and PHP4 as Apache modules, rather one must be run as CGI, with the other one being run as an Apache module.

In the case of an upgrade at the hosting level, most likely the PHP5 will be run as a module while PHP4 will be run as CGI.

Helpful tips & workarounds to aide running our forms or other scripts under PHP5:

Put an .htaccess in your /public_html/ (cPanel) or /httpdocs/ (PLESK) or root directory, with:

 AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php

This will allow your scripts to access PHP4 after any upgrade to PHP5.

How to tell if you are running PHP 4 or 5 and whether it is run under phpsuexec

The first step is to find out if your server is using phpsuexec. This can be done by running a simple 'php info' script.

To check which version of PHP is installed on your website's server, we have included the file phptest.php which contains just the following line of code:
 
 

 
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
 

After uploading to your server: enter the full url of this file into your browser. For example: http://www.your-website.com/forms/phptest.php.

Note: For added security, you might wish to delete this file from your server when you are done.

Load the file in your browser and in the top section find the line 'Server API'. If it shows 'CGI' then your account is on a server with phpsuexec. If it lists the server API as 'apache' you are not on a phpsuexec server.

The next step is to add the appropriate command to your .htaccess file. For the primary domain name on an account the .htaccess file should be located in the public_html folder. Create the file if it does not exist. If it does exist, then make sure to save a backup copy.
Rename it .htaccess-backup.

Place one of the following commands in the file:

If your account is not on a phpsuexec server use:

AddType application/x-httpd-php5 .php

If your account is on a phpsuexec server use:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

For your convenience, we have included 3 .htaccess files located in your download. We have name them something like z-.htaccess-AddHandler-application-php4.txt.

Rename the appropriate file .htaccess (it will not function with the name we have given it. Your server looks for a file named .htaccess).

You might try all 3 files if the first one doesn't do the job. It might work perfectly by keeping it in the "forms" directory. But you might need to place it in the "root", which is usually called htdocs or public_html.

In other words:
Your web hosting service must have PHP installed and properly configured for the program to run. Please make sure they have PHP and what version they are using. Bestwebforms will work with PHP 4.2.0 or later.
Rename the file z-.htaccess-AddHandler-application-php4.txt (for PHP 4) to .htaccess,
or rename z-.htaccess-AddHandler-application-php5.txt (for PHP 5) to .htaccess and try to access your web forms again. If that doesn't work, you must ask your hosting service to add an application handler for proper execution of your PHP files.
 

 

 
 

BestWebForms.com © 2009