stand alone php app

Question

What is the best way to build a non web browser stand alone php app that works with some sort of database without requiring the user to install a database server. Or am i just asking too much?

Answer 1

If you're targeting Windows, try WinBinder . It allows you to develop native Windows applications using PHP.

It also supports SQLite, so you don't need a database server.

Answer 2

Embed the SQLite database in your app, then configure PHP to talk to the SQLite database:

http://us.php.net/sqlite

Answer 3

Have a look at php compilers, you'll end up with a binary for people to run. It could be a desktop GUI application, or a "web server in a box" type of thing.

• bamcompile
• phc
• roadsend

Answer 4

As Oakcool has mentioned, check out PHP-GTK. It is a GUI development tool on the similar lines of MFC for C/C++.

PHP-GTK alongwith SQLite or a text file as others mentioned above should do the trick.

Answer 5

I'd suggest you try miniPHP . It is basically an IDE around Winbinder ; it lets you concentrate on writing PHP while it takes care of details like compiling the application. You can create either GUI or command-line apps and it works just fine with both SQLite and MySQL. It has a preview mode and some debugging capabilities too.

Answer 6

Here is an idea: information can be stored in XML and thus usage of database can be avoided. That will work only for certain kind of purposes of course.

Answer 7

I dont know how to use PHP as standalone programming language, I mean without using a web server and a browser.i can answer your other question.

SQLite is a database system (to be more specific: a library!) which provides you all the basic capabilities of SQL database without needing to install any specific database servers .But you do need to copy a small .dll file(sqlite3.dll i suppose) into your working dirctory.The file is only a very small one,but you get all of the basic capabilities of a database such as INSERT DELETE UPDATE SELECT etc..Its a great light weight database..i mean it..really lightweight.

also PHP has inbuilt support for SQLite database.so compatibility will never be a problem

Have a look at their home page https://sqlite.org/

This is what they describe themselves: SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world.

Answer 8

Checkout phpdesktop that gives you:

• Embedded web browser based on Chromium framework let you benefits from HTML5, javascript and jQuery.
• Embedded web server with mongoose let you use php.
• embedded database engine with SQLite.

Answer 9

Take a look at this 3 links

PHP GTK enter code here http://gtk.php.net/

FLEX http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/?promoid=BPDEQ

AIR http://www.adobe.com/products/air/

I think any those will help you, check it out.

Answer 10

I don't have any experience with it but there's a portable version of XAMPP .

You wouldn't necessarily have to use the Apache portion. The app could just run from the command-line, depending on what you're trying to do.