Automate the apache authentication process

I am using apache authentication. The problem is: I want the user to be able to get registered throught the web GUI, and all the users' password and userID will be kept in the database. In my mind, I can use php later to get all these userID/password, and run the apache htpasswd to register these users. However, Apache htpasswd is an interactive program and we need manually input the password, is there a way to automate and batch process this using php scripts? Thanks, David _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com