I guess pack-unpack are the handy functions for encoding/decoding data as/from a binary string for shmop_write/shmop_read. Example:
$format='LLLLSSCCCC'; //data format for pack
$key=1;
if( !($shmid=shmop_open($key,'n',0660,30)) )
die('shmop_open failed.');
//my data to encode:
$hd=array('ALIVE1'=>1,'ALIVE2'=>2,'ALIVE3'=>3,'ALIVE4'=>4,
'CRTPTR'=>5,'CRTSEQ'=>6,
'CTW'=>7,'LOCK'=>8,'PLAY'=>9,'MISS'=>10
);
$tmp=pack( $format, $hd['ALIVE1'],$hd['ALIVE2'],$hd['ALIVE3'],$hd['ALIVE4'], $hd['CRTPTR'],$hd['CRTSEQ'],$hd['CTW'],$hd['LOCK'],$hd['PLAY'],$hd['MISS'] );
if( ($w=shmop_write($shmid,$tmp,0))!=24 )
die('write error $w='.$w);
And reading from some other process:
$key=1;
if( !($shmid=shmop_open($key,'w',0,0)) )
die('shmop_open failed.');
$formatR='L4ALIVE/SCRTPTR/SCRTSEQ/CCTW/CLOCK/CPLAY/CMISS'; //data format for unpack
$hd=unpack( $formatR, shmop_read( $shmid,0,24) );
echo'hd:<pre>';print_r($hd);echo'</pre>';