How to embed images in a single HTML / PHP file?

Question

I am creating a lightweight, single-file database administration tool and I would like to bundle some small icons with it. What is the best way to embed images in a HTML/PHP

Answer 1

For one PHP server side script try a base64 encode of the graphic and use a simple controller-style logic:

 array('mimetype' => 'image/png',
                                     'data' => '...'));
/* use request path, e.g. index.php/photo.png */
$action = substr($_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1);
switch($action) {
case (preg_match('/\.png$/', $action)?$action:!$action):
  header("Content-Type: {$images[$action]['mimetype']}");
  /* use expires to limit re-requests on navigation */
  $expires = gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s \G\M\T', filetime(__FILE__) + 365*24*60*60);
  header("Expires: {$expires}");
  $data = base64_decode($images[$action]['data']);
  header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($data));
  echo $data;
  break;
...
}
?>