COM works on NT but fails on 2003?

["Theisen, Gary" <gary.theisen@xxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I currently have php 4.3.10 loaded on a windows 2003 server running
apache 2.0.52.  PHP and the web server work fine.  I've got the code
(that used to work on an old NT box running IIS and an earlier version
of PHP...I think 4.1 or 4.2??) 

//.....code

$excel = new COM("Excel.Application") or Die ("Did not connect");

//Open the workbook that we want to use.
$book = $excel->Application->Workbooks->Open($reportPath.$rptName);

//....more code 

Again...that used to work on NT, but now I can't get it to work on 2003.
I believe the issue lies with the new COM() line, but it doesn't print
out the or die statement.

I've followed the article on this site (which is how I got this Excel
COM function to work with NT in the first place:
http://www.phpbuilder.net/columns/venkatesan20030501.php3]http://www.php
builder.net/columns/venkatesan20030501.php3
but perhaps this doesn't apply to the new win 2003 server?
I have the appropriate IUSR_MACHINE_Name user with Excel COM launch,
etc. permissions.

Any ideas? :idea: 
Thanks.

EDIT:
some more info...

when i run this script...nothing happens. at least that i can see. I
look in the O/S event logs, nothing shows up there related to this. I
look in the apache logs...nothing on this.

This script was run via the cmd line on the NT box (& should be run by
cmd line on the 2003 box as well).

When I run the script (F:\somedir>theScript.php)...it pauses for about 2
seconds then just returns to the command line. I've got the php.ini file
set to display all errors turned on. still, nothing is displayed in the
cmd window.

So I run a basic test:
parse errror:

the code:
<?
//******************************
//Create the spreadsheet object.
//******************************

$basePath = "F:\\_jobs\\reports\\adhoc\\SomeReportDir\\";
$reportPath = $basePath."report\\SomeReport.xls";

$excel = new COM("Excel.Application") or Die ("Did not connect");
if ($excel !=== FALSE) {  //This is the error line?!?!  I even tried
"FALSE".
  print "Testing output.\n";
  print $excel;
} else {
  print "Error";
  die();
}

$book = $excel->Application->Workbooks->Open($reportPath.$rptName);

?>

F:\_jobs\reports\scripts>excel.php
PHP Parse error:  parse error in F:\_jobs\reports\scripts\excel.php on
line 10
Content-type: text/html

<br />
<b>Parse error</b>:  parse error in
<b>F:\_jobs\reports\scripts\excel.php</b> on
 line <b>10</b><br />

F:\_jobs\reports\scripts>

Why won't this work on windows 2003 server...or at least give me an
error that I can "work" with?

Thanks.