When will Flare support PHP?

[fadibitz]

It would be amazing if Flare would render PHP, even if we had to install *AMP on our machines. This lack of support forces me to do so many things manually that I could otherwise automate, that I spend more time fiddling with minutiae than I do creating content.

Guys, you gotta do something about this. This is just crazy.

And if I'm wrong about this, please direct me to the bit that makes PHP work.

[RamonS]

I agree that Flare would benefit a lot from PHP support. Put a feature request in: https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback ... quest.aspx

[Richard Ferrell]

The more people who request it, the better the chance it will be added in the future

[fadibitz]

The subtext seems to be either that Flare devs do not lurk the forum, or that they don't realize web technology has progressed beyond JavaScript.

[RamonS]

They don't lurk the forums. This is a peer to peer forum. While MadCap folks stop by frequently it is not guaranteed that they take on requests voiced here. Therefore, enter the feature request if you haven't already done so. That is the best way to get your word in.

[fadibitz]

I submitted it directly after you suggested it yesterday, and included a number of pros and cons that they would need to consider. It was a good suggestion to request the feature, thanks.

[doc_guy]

One issue to consider here is that you would want to make sure that PHP isn't a REQUIREMENT for Flare to work. I've worked with organizations that refuse to use PHP for security reasons, so it isn't even installed on our servers. (I'm not saying that is the RIGHT approach, just that you wouldn't want to alienate potential/existing Flare users who are unable to use PHP.)

[RamonS]

A proper PHP install is secure. Dozens of large media companies use PHP for their CMS. That is a dumb argument and can be applied to any piece of software. I doubt the ones who claim PHP is not secure dumped Windows that needs critical security patches every single month.
I know it isn't your opinion, but when I read stuff like that....

[Thomas Tregner]

What kind of support for PHP are you requesting? I don't see how WebHelp or HTML5 outputs conflict with a web server running PHP or that those outputs cannot use PHP. I've tried it. WebHelp or HTML5 worked fine on a web server running PHP and the scripts I inserted were run by the server as expected. Not to mention that you can change the file extension for topic files to PHP if that is a requirement. Or do you mean that you want any use of JavaScript replaced with PHP?

[mjacober]

Were you able to change the topic extension and insert the PHP script from within the Flare UI, or did you do that in the output files?

Thanks,
Mark

[Thomas Tregner]

Were you able to change the topic extension and insert the PHP script from within the Flare UI, or did you do that in the output files?

Thanks,
Mark

Both can be done from the Flare UI.

With an HTML5 target open in the Target Editor, on the Advanced tab under Output Options, there is a Use custom file extension for topics option. You can check that and enter "php". All the files that would normally end with .htm will be built to end with .php.

To insert php, you can switch the Topic Editor from XML Editor to Text Editor and insert it in the markup. In the XML Editor, it will appear as <php></php> even though the tag is <?php ?>. You won't see the code in the XML Editor but you can still edit it in the Text Editor. The code is included as-is in the generated output.

BTW, the editor flags the short tag syntax <? ?> as invalid. Also the syntax coloring in the Text Editor doesn't always handle the tag.

[RamonS]

To insert php, you can switch the Topic Editor from XML Editor to Text Editor and insert it in the markup. In the XML Editor, it will appear as <php></php> even though the tag is <?php ?>. You won't see the code in the XML Editor but you can still edit it in the Text Editor. The code is included as-is in the generated output.

That wasn't always the case. Flare used to strip parts and destroy the rest causing the code to be totally unusable. I wonder in which version that changed. Back then I reported as a bug and so far did not get word that it was fixed, but apparently it was.

[Thomas Tregner]

That wasn't always the case. Flare used to strip parts and destroy the rest causing the code to be totally unusable. I wonder in which version that changed. Back then I reported as a bug and so far did not get word that it was fixed, but apparently it was.

I haven't encountered that. But that doesn't mean it doesn't still happen. Do you have an old test project laying around? I also noticed that the Text Editor doesn't like short tag syntax and that single quotes break the syntax coloring. But I just filed a bug for those.

[RamonS]

I doubt that I have a test project anywhere. If I happen to have some time available I'll give it another try.

[mjacober]

Thanks for the help. I was able to the use php file extension option and the php entered into the text editor ran as expected on the server. I did run into a couple of issues in the use of double quotes that Flare called 'Illegal Syntax'. Changing to single quotes did the trick. And, I was not able to see any indication of the php in th XML editor. All minor stuff, though: It's working fine. Thanks again.

Mark