Tell me about GD

[cbiweb]

I see posts about it, and I see it mentioned in the Admin CP vBulletin Options... what is GD, or GDi as I've sometimes seen it? How do I get it? phpinfo() does not show it so I know it is not on my server. So what do I need to do? :(

[glaucon]

gd is a graphics engine. you have to contact your webhost to have them install it if it isnt installed.

[cbiweb]

Okay. I am doing work on localhost; setting up, learning and testing CMPS before I put it on the remote server. How do I install GD so I can use it locally?

[Kirby]

Do you run Windows with a precompiled Apache?
Then most likely GD is already included.

[cbiweb]

Windows XP, Apache 2.0.52 (precompiled), Perl, PHP 4.3.10, MySQL 4.0.23.

If it's already installed, how do I access/activate it? Why doesn't phpinfo() show that it's there? lol... with everything I do know about, this seems to be eluding me.

[ConqSoft]

Look in your PHP.INI for the GD module. Uncomment that line and make sure the path to your php extensions is correct.

[cbiweb]

I uncommented this line
extension=php_gd2.dllNow i'm getting an error that says:
Unknown(): Unable to load dynamic library './php_gd2.dll' - The specified module could not be found.

I know this probably isn't the place to ask about php issues, so if anyone knows where I can get such help I'll gladly go there. :)

[ConqSoft]

You need to set the path to your extensions directory, as noted above. ;)

[cbiweb]

You know, that's what's bugging me. I don't have an extensions directory. :confused: I poked around some more, and did some Googling, and from what I see there is supposed to be an extensions directory somewhere, but I don't see one where they say it should be. I'm a little lost now.

[ConqSoft]

Did you install PHP using the Windows Installer? If so, download the ZIP version and unzip it to your \PHP directory. The installer version doesn't come with everything.

[cbiweb]

Well, here's something I just found out. I searched my drive for 'extensions'', and one of the results was a folder named 'extensions', and the path to it is php-4.3.4-Win32. That's exactly the path, no drive letter starting it off. So I opened it from the search window, and there was a bunch of stuff in there, inlcuding gd_2.dll. The trouble is, without a drive letter, where the hell is that folder?

[ConqSoft]

Sounds like your search returned files that are inside a ZIP file.

[cbiweb]

Ah, ok. I think I'm beginning to get a clue. I'll look through my collection of zipped folders, and if that turns up nothing I'll follow your previous suggestion of downloading the zip version.

Thanks for your guidance. I'll post back with the results of whatever happens.

[cbiweb]

That was it! Buried deep inside my hard drive was the zip version of php, which I had forgotten all about. I simply grabbed the extensions directory from it, put it in my PHP directory, and whaddya know everything works now.

Thanks again - much appreciated! :)