PHP - Native Desktop Packager!

[roosevelt]

Fellow Neowinians,

 

I think my journey to finding a solution for PHP - Desktop Programming is finally over. Basically I am a ninja when it comes to PHP and I try to use this language as much as possible for different projects. Other than that PHP has a solid track record of being reliable and in most markets PHP has a higher acceptance rate etc...

 

There is a huge market for Desktop Applications, as much as web based solutions. But PHP tends to focus on the server side than the desktop side. So, I wanted to find a way to use PHP for my Desktop Application development. And here's what I found:

 

PHP-GTK = Outdated... possibly dead!

 

Titanium = Dead

 

XAMPP/WAMP = Not sexy when it comes to delivering the end product. And opening your browser and going to http://localhost/crap/ is not sexy either.

 

So, I ended up making my own solution and I am happy to offer it to the world for free. It is still in beta so you have to work with me on this if you run into any issues.

 

What do you get?

• Your PHP Web Application will run on Windows, Linux and Mac
• NO NEED TO INSTALL A WEBSERVER
• Application is loaded on its own native window
• Has PHP 5 precompiled... or you can compile your own PHP and use that instead
• Copy/Paste Run solution!

For more information check out: http://www.nightrain.naetech.com/

 

And you can see a demo PHP project packaged as a desktop application here:

http://www.naetech.com/developing-ribbon-desktop-application-php.html

 

Feedback, suggestions, any mean things you want to say... all welcome!

[SharpGreen]

Sounds interesting I think.

 

Just thought I'd also point out this http://phalanger.codeplex.com/ It's basically a .NET/Mono implementation of PHP.

[0nyX]

Thank you for this. Looks promising.

 

Will it work with websites that fetch data from a MySQL database?

[roosevelt]

Absolutely! The packager itself only comes with PHP and the SQLite module compiled into it. I felt including the MySQL server and the drivers would be overkill. However, you can always recomplie PHP with any module you may need if the default PHP is not good enough for your needs. If you need help with the compilation process or just have any issues let me know and we can figure out a solution. FYI... if the user already has PHP 5 with MySQL modules then you can also change the settings.ini file to use that PHP as well. If you are building a standalone app, then using SQLite database (a single file) for the application is more efficient!