This document introduces some PHP concepts and features that may be useful for ChartDirector installation.

phpinfo is a standard PHP function for obtain detail information about your PHP system. To use it, create a PHP file on your web server that contains only one line as follows:


Access the above PHP file with a browser, and it will display your PHP configuration.

PHP configurations are stored in a text file called the PHP configuration file. The file name is usually "php.ini" but sometimes a different file name is used. You may use phpinfo to find out the exact location and name of your PHP configuration file.

The PHP extension directory is a directory for storing PHP extension DLLs or shared objects. The PHP extension directory is configured using the "extension_dir" statement in php.ini. You may use phpinfo to find out where is your PHP extension directory.

In some systems, the PHP extension directory is configured as a relative path, such as "./". Make sure you know where the path is relative to. From experience, many ChartDirector installation problems are due to using relative path in the PHP extension directory, without knowing where it is relative to.

Since "php.ini" is used during PHP system initialization, the PHP extension directory is usually relative to a directory used during initialization, such as the web server executable directory, the PHP executable directory, or a system directory. It depends on many factors, such as the OS type and version, environmental variables, web server type and version, PHP/Web Server interface method, PHP version, how the web server is started up, etc.

To avoid confusion, configure PHP to use an absolute path as the PHP extension directory whenever possible.