To pass a parameter by reference to a COM function, you need to pass VARIANT to it. Common data types like integers and strings will not work for it.
As an example, calling a function that retrieves the name of a person will look like:
<?php
$Name = new VARIANT;
$comobj = new COM("MyCOMOBj.Component") or die("Couldn't create the COM Component");
if(!$comobj->GetName($Name)) {
echo("Could not retrieve name");
}
else {
echo("The name retrieved is : " . $Name->value);
}
?>
$Name->type will contain the type of the value stored in the VARIANT e.g. VT_BSTR.
Note For PHP 5:
Insted of '$Name->value', we can use only '$Name' for getting the value stored in the VARIANT. To get the type of the value stored in the VARIANT, use 'variant_get_type($Name)'.
Feroz Zahid
