I'm using IIS7 to run a website which my client wants in PHP, and I've run into an annoying issue.

I can easily include fragment files via the PHP include() method, but it gets complicated when files are not at the root level of the website. I've been trying to use (1) the standard SSI include and (2) the PHP virtual() method, but in both cases my fragment files aren't being included.

Note: my page ends in a .php extension.

In the first case (SSI includes), I'm using the following code:


The server (IIS7) simply ignores this code and interprets that line as an HTML comment. This exact code works fine when running ASP.NET, so I don't know if it's a PHP setting.

In the second case, (using PHP virtual() method), I get this error: Fatal error: Call to undefined function: virtual()

I need to use virtual includes in my particular case... has anyone ever encountered this? (I'm running a shared hosting account through GoDaddy if that's important)

Well, PHP doesn't interpret SSI directives. The server is probably passing the file straight to the PHP interpreter rather than doing the SSI first. It might be possible to configure the server to filter the file through the engine that handles SSI and then pass the result off to PHP, or vice versa. Then again, it might not be. I really don't know enough about IIS to be able to tell you.


Read the documentation: virtual() is an Apache-specific function. If you're running IIS, it's not going to be available. You'll just have to use another method.

I find this hard to believe. It's Apache only. You can look into to putting some directives in the .htaccess, assuming godaddy is running Apache and honors local configurations.

However, it's rare to see SSI and PHP combined. If you're going through the effort of processing the page through PHP, it doesn't make sense to use SSI.

Thanks guys. I'm definitely more of a .NET developer, so I appreciate you pointing out the Apache-specific PHP stuff. I just find it odd (frustrating really) that PHP isn't the same on IIS and Linux, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Using SSIs to include file fragments has been something I've done for a long time, and I've worked in Linux environments where this works fine with PHP (I didn't setup the servers). I typically use ASP.NET (and PHP) for data access and business logic, and the SSIs for stitching-together the pieces of my web templates. Thus, if you swapped languages (or servers) the SSIs would remain intact, and you'd only be looking to rewrite the language-specific logic. That is what I've attempted to do in this case. Since I'm using a shared hosting account on IIS, it's pretty clear that the default server settings don't allow me to use SSI within PHP. I'll have to figure something else out.

Thanks again!

You can use php includes (another form of SSI). They just have a slightly different syntax. With the .php extension on the file - these includes will be handled just as they are in IIS with SSI- except PHP will be doing the work.

<?php include("myincludepathgoeshere.inc"); ?>