Note that if you want to use a string to specify the method to call (e.g. a drop-down list to decide what to do to a server process) you can do this in three ways.
The first is to use this function, as in <?php com_invoke($obj, $_GET['func']); ?>
That's bad.
The second is to use eval(), as in <?php eval("\$obj->{$_GET['func']}();"); ?>
That's very very very *very* bad.
The third is to use call_user_func(), as in <?php call_user_func(array($obj, $_GET['func'])); ?>
That's very good.
Remember to validate the user input against a list of allowed methods if a non-admin is at the console.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.call-user-func.php
com_invoke
(PHP 4)
com_invoke — Calls a COM component's method [deprecated]
Description
com_invoke() invokes the method
named function_name
of the COM
component referenced by com_object
.
com_invoke() returns FALSE
on error,
returns the function_name
's return
value on success. All the extra parameters
function_parameters
are passed to
the method function_name
.
Example #1 Don't use com_invoke(), use OO syntax instead
<?php
// do this
$val = $obj->method($one, $two);
// instead of this:
$val = com_invoke($obj, 'method', $one, $two);
?>
Note: This function does not exist in PHP 5; instead, you should use the regular and more natural OO syntax to access properties or call methods.

tomer at parity-bit dot com ¶
8 years ago