COM instance (invoked from PHP)
<pre><code>$XL = new COM("Excel.Application");
</code></pre>

<p>...creates a new instance of Excel.</p>

<p>But I want to interact with an existing one.  (In the olden days, Microsoft VB term of art was GetObject() vis-à-vis CreateObject().)</p>

<p>PHP is being instructed in the statement above to do the equivalent of CreateObject().  How can it be instructed to do GetObject() instead?</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>
