Install & Configure Apache+PHP+OracleDbXe On Windows In Minutes

If you think installing Apache+PHP+OracleDbXe (Oracle Database Express Edition) is complicated, think no more. This article gives you some simple steps to installing, configuring and testing Apache2.2.2+PHP5.1.4+OracleDb10gXe10.2.0.1.0 on Windows OS. Your development environment can be set up within minutes.

Software Versions:
1. Apache 2.2.2
2. PHP 5.1.4 Oracle
3. DB 10g XE ( 10.2.0.1.0 )

1. Download and Install the S/Ws.
(1) Download OracleDb10gXe10.2.0.1.0 from http://otn.oracle.com/ and install it.
(2) Then use the command “sqlplus / as sysdba” to connect to the db, and execute “alter user hr account unlock” to unlock the user “hr”.
(3) Download Apache2.2.2 from http://www.apache.org/ and install it. E.g, install it at C:\Programs\Apache2.2.
(4) Download PHP5.1.4 from http://www.php.net/ and install it. E.g., install it at C:\Programs\php-5.1.4-Win32. Alright, at this point, everything is installed, let's tie them up!

2. Configure Apache and PHP.
(1) Make sure you have a folder for your website, e.g., C:\ProgDemo\WebSiteDemo.
(2) Setup the Apache conf file C:\Programs\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf as follows:
21) DocumentRoot "C:/ProgDemo/WebSiteDemo"
22) <Directory "C:/ProgDemo/WebSiteDemo">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
23) <Directory "C:/Programs/php-5.1.4-Win32">
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
24) DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
25) ScriptAlias /php/ "C:/Programs/php-5.1.4-Win32/"
26) AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
27) Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"
SetEnv PHPRC "C:/Programs/php-5.1.4-Win32"
(3) Rename the PHP config file C:\Programs\php-5.1.4-Win32\php.ini-dist to C:\Programs\php-5.1.4-Win32\php.ini. Then setup the file php.ini as follows:
31) doc_root = "C:\ProgDemo\WebSiteDemo"
32) extension_dir = "./ext"
33) extension=php_oci8.dll

That's it! Let's run some test so you can sleep easy.

3. Test operating OracleDbXe via PHP.
(1) Create a file named “index.php” in the folder C:\ProgDemo\WebSiteDemo.
(2) Edit the file “index.php” as follows:
<?php print"This is a Demo that PHP operatesOracleDB10gXe!<br><br>\n" ?>
<?php
$conn = oci_connect('hr','hr','//localhost:1521/xe');
$query = 'select last_name, salary from employees where salary > 11000';
$stid = oci_parse($conn, $query);
$r = oci_execute($stid, OCI_DEFAULT);
print '<table border="1"><tr><td>Name</td><td>Salary</td></tr>';
while($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_RETURN_NULLS))
{
print '<tr>';
foreach ($row as $item)
{
print '<td>'.($item?htmlentities($item):'').'</td>';
}
print '</tr>';
}
print '</table>';
oci_close($conn);
?>
(3)Key in http://localhost in your browser and you will see the output of your query from OracleDbXe.

Tada! :)

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