[Jasper]

I was just kidding with the databases (in php you can make "file access layer" that behaves like any other file access but just does whatever you made it to do, which could be changing your database, thus you could use extplorer to access your database). It can be done, but there is absolutely no advantage to doing it.

Good that you got it working - your solution is a good one, though I would personally have looked for a way to get it working with realpath, because it seems that realpath should work, but that realpath is used in such a way that does not work.

The changed code I provided did not do what you wanted, it was meant to give extplorer access to only a subfolder of the directory that file is in. So do please change that as well, or strange things might happen.

You do realise there are two different file manager application you can reach from your control panel? I am not entirely sure, but using extplorer might get you into trouble with your permissions.