php compile less file using lessc via nodejs on windows 7

Question

php compile less file using lessc via nodejs on windows 7

I am trying to compile less file using php, and I am trying to use lessc which I installed as nodejs module on my windows 7

I am trying to do :

$command = lessc %s -compress %s

via

exec($command, $output);

and if I do this via cmd it works fine but I can't execute it using above command in php :(.

the path which works are relative to my drive (E:/wamp/my-project/less/hello.less)

Any body knows what I am doing wrong?

Note: I know how I can use lessphp compiler, and I am already using it but I would like to use lessc module installed via nodejs.

php
windows
node.js
exec
less

Answer 1

Are you able to get the output of the command when it fails? It's possible that lessc isn't directly available in your path. If you installed it via npm install -g then it will likely be in %appdata%, which is a user path'd directory. It really depends upon how the php process gets initiated, but my guess is that this path won't work.

If I need to use an npm module like this, I usually npm install it locally, and invoke the path to lessc.cmd from a relative path to my program.

Hope this helps. Happy coding!