This function returns an integer value that indicates the type of
variant, which can be an instance of
COM,
DOTNET or
VARIANT classes. The return value
can be compared to one of the VT_XXX constants.
The return value for COM and DOTNET objects will usually be VT_DISPATCH; the only reason this function works for those classes is because COM and DOTNET are descendants of VARIANT.
In PHP versions prior to 5, you could obtain this information from
instances of the VARIANT class ONLY, by reading a fake
type property. See the VARIANT class for more information on
this.