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<h1>Extension callbacks</h1>
<p>
As we <a href="loading-extension">explained before</a>, the get_module()
function is called when your extension is started. It returns a memory address
where the Zend engine can find all relevant information about your extension.
</p>
<p>
After this get_module() call, your extension is loaded and will be used to handle
<i>multiple</i> pageviews. This is an important difference between standard
PHP scripts and native extensions, because standard PHP scripts handle only a single
pageview. But extensions serve multiple pageviews after each other.
</p>
<p>
This difference is especially important if you use global C++ variables.
Such global variables are initialized when the extension is loaded - and not at
the beginning of each pageview. Changes that you make to global variables keep
their value, and subsequent requests will therefore see the updated values.
</p>
<p>
This, by the way, only happens to <i>native</i> variables. Global PHP variables,
stored in the Php::GLOBALS object, are re-initialized at the beginning of
each request. You do not have to worry about changes that you make to
global PHP variables: at the beginning of the next request, the Php::GLOBALS
object is fresh and new, and the changes that you made during the
previous request are no longer visible.
</p>
<p>
Back to the global C++ variables. If you want to reset a global variable
at the beginning of a new request, you can register a special callback function
that gets called in front of each request.
</p>
<p>
<pre class="language-c++"><code>#include <phpcpp.h>
/**
* Global variable that stores the number of times
* the function updateCounters() has been called in total
* @var int
*/
int invokeTotalCount = 0;
/**
* Global variable that keeps track how many times the
* function updateCounters() was called during the
* current request
* @var int
*/
int invokeDuringRequestCount = 0;
/**
* Native function that is callable from PHP
*
* This function updates a number of global variables that count
* the number of times a function was called
*/
void updateCounters()
{
// increment global counters
invokeTotalCount++;
invokeDuringRequestCount++;
}
/**
* Switch to C context, because the Zend engine expects get get_module()
* to have a C style function signature
*/
extern "C" {
/**
* Startup function that is automatically called by the Zend engine
* when PHP starts, and that should return the extension details
* @return void*
*/
PHPCPP_EXPORT void *get_module()
{
// the extension object
static Php::Extension extension("my_extension", "1.0");
// install a callback that is called at the beginning
// of each request
extension.onRequest([]() {
// re-initialize the counter
invokeDuringRequestCount = 0;
});
// add the updateCounter method to the extension
extension.add("updateCounters", updateCounters);
// return the extension details
return extension;
}
}</code></pre>
</p>
<p>
The Php::Extension class has a method onRequest() that is used in the
above example to register a callback function. This callback is called right
before every pageview/request. And as you can see, it is
permitted to use C++ lambda functions.
</p>
<p>
The onRequest() is not the only method in the Php::Extension object to
register a callback. There are in fact
four different on*() methods that you can use.
</p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>void onStartup(const std::function<void()> &callback);</li>
<li>void onRequest(const std::function<void()> &callback);</li>
<li>void onIdle(const std::function<void()> &callback);</li>
<li>void onShutdown(const std::function<void()> &callback);</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
The startup callback is called when the Zend engine has loaded your extension
and all functions and classes in it were registered. If you want to initialize
additional variables in your extension before the functions are going to get called,
you can use the onStartup() function and register a callback to run this
initialization code.
</p>
<p>
After the Zend engine is initialized, it is ready to process requests. In the
example above we used the onRequest() method to register a callback that is
called in front of each request. Next to that, you can also install a callback that gets called
<i>after</i> each request, when the Zend engine moves to an idle state - waiting
for the next request. This can be accomplished with the onIdle()
method in the Php::Extension object.
</p>
<p>
The fourth callback that you can register is a callback that gets called
right before PHP shuts down. If there is anything to clean up, you can install
such a callback and run the cleanup code from it.
</p>
<h2 id="multi-threading">Watch out for multi-threading</h2>
<p>
If your extension runs on a multi-threaded PHP installation, you need to take
extra care. Most PHP installations (Apache, CLI scripts, etc) serve one
request at a time, sequentially. There are however PHP installations that use
multi-threading and that can serve multiple requests in parallel. If your
extension runs on such an environment, you should be aware that your global
(and static!) variables can also be accessed by multiple threads at the same
time. It is your own responsibility to use technologies like std::mutex or
std::atomic to prevent race conditions and conflicts.
</p>
<p>
If your extension is compiled for a multi-threaded environment, the PHP-CPP
header files defines the macro ZTS. You can use this macro to check if you
do have to create special code to deal with threads.
</p>
<p>
<pre class="language-c++"><code>#include <phpcpp.h>
/**
* Global variable that store the number of times
* the function updateCounters() has been called in total
* @var int
*/
int invokeTotalCount = 0;
#ifdef ZTS
/**
* Mutex so that the 'invokeTotalCount' variable is only accessed
* by one process at a time
* @var std::mutex
*/
std::mutex invokeTotalMutex;
#endif
/**
* Native function that is callable from PHP
*
* This function updates a number of global variables that count
* the number of times a function was called
*/
void updateCounters()
{
#ifdef ZTS
// lock the mutex
std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(invokeTotalMutex);
#endif
// increment counters
invokeTotalCount++;
}
</code></pre>
</p>
<p>
Another important thing to realize is that PHP also does this locking
internally. If you call a PHP function from you C++ code (like Php::Value("myFunction")()),
or when you access a PHP variable in the Php::GLOBALS array (or one of the
other super-globals), PHP has to lock something to ensure that no
other thread is accessing the same information at the same time. These operations
can be expensive.
</p>
<p>
Good rules of thumb for writing native extensions with PHP-CPP therefore
are:
<ul>
<li>Do not use global variables</li>
<li>Only call other <i>native</i> functions, and don't call back into PHP</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
These rules are not as limiting as they appear. The use of global
variables is not considered excellent software design, so you were probably
not even using them, and the reason why you are writing a native extension
in the first place is because you wanted to get away from PHP. Calling (slow)
PHP functions from your extension should be prevented anyway.
</p>
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