CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
Martyn Ball
Martyn Ball

Reputation: 4895

Using PHP to find any external devices plugged in

I need a way to find any devices that are currently plugged into a machine using PHP, the web application is ONLY run locally for a business.

I was thinking of maybe checking to see if a folder exists in a directory (for example: E:/DCIM/) and if there is an error the. It wouldn't exist, so check the next one.

Would be nice to get the devices name and storage capability though. I then need to use this information to upload any photos from the DCIM folder.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 216

Answers (1)

Lauri P
Lauri P

Reputation: 336

What platform are you running on?

  • If using Linux, you could use shell_exec to launch commands, such as "lsusb" to check if the device exists and get info with other linux commands.

  • I would expect you're using Windows though...( From the E:). I found the following code you could use to help you with your task on http://php.net/manual/en/function.shell-exec.php

     <?php
function GetVolumeLabel($drive) {
  // Try to grab the volume name
  if (preg_match('#Volume in drive [a-zA-Z]* is (.*)\n#i', shell_exec('dir '.$drive.':'), $m)) {
    $volname = ' ('.$m[1].')';
  } else {
    $volname = '';
  }
return $volname;
}

print GetVolumeLabel("c");

?>

    Note: The regular expression assumes a english version of Windows is in use. modify it accordingly for a different localized copy of Windows. For a specific windows command to get all your required data, I would recommend:

    wmic logicaldisk get volumename,size,caption

Overall, it seems you're forcing PHP to do something it isn't meant to do.

Upvotes: 1

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