Create PHP Desktop Applications

October 5th, 2006

If you’re like me and you’re able to develop using languages such as PHP, but you couldn’t put together a desktop application to save your life then here’s some news that might open up a world of opportunities for you.

NuSphere, the creators of the PHP editor, PhpEd, have released PhpDock; a deployment platform for PHP scripts.  What this means is that PHP scripts distributed with PhpDock will run on a Windows computer without the need for a separate webserver or even an Internet connection.

With an Internet connection, your PHP desktop applications can do all of the usual things that server-based PHP applications can do e.g. interact with other websites and make use of web services.

One of the big benefits of distributing a PHP script as a desktop application instead of running it from your server is that no matter how many users there are, they won’t use your bandwidth or overload your server.  It also makes it easier for the less technically minded to use your script because they won’t need to install it onto their own hosting accounts.

So instead of running a subscription service from your website, you could package up your application and just include a licensing check on start-up.  If your service interacts with other websites e.g. for directory submission, then you don’t run the risk of having your server’s IP address blocked due to over use.  Instead, the submissions will be from individual user IP addresses.

There are so many possibilities, my mind is boggled! :D

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8 Responses to “Create PHP Desktop Applications”

  1. Arun said on October 5th, 2006 at 9:01 pm

    Wow, this sounds cool to me….

    It will be great tool for making desktop applications for the lazy developers like me who are only limited to PHP… lol

    Thanks, going to download the demo right now…

    Arun

  2. Will said on October 5th, 2006 at 10:39 pm

    Some more info on PhpDock:

    • PHP5 comes as standard, but you can replace it with PHP4.
    • SQLite is also installed as standard, but MySQL can be packaged.

    One area where it can be improved upon is making the deployed package more of a black box. It seems that currently, the end user installation will spill your applications source code out into the open.

    Without any form of source code protection, this is surely a big disadvantage.

    One possible workaround is to use an encryption/obfuscation tool such as Code Lock.

  3. Mark said on October 6th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

    Like PhpDock… PortableWebAp Application Server can run PHP5 as a desktop application. It doesn’t require an install and will run from a hard drive, USB, DVD or CDROM. And most important is that you can customize the icons and file names as desired and distribute it to your customers.

  4. Will said on October 7th, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    Thanks for the info, Mark. I never realised just how many portable environments were available!

  5. Amol Bhavsar, PHP Developer said on April 2nd, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Nice Aricle. Short but sweet. I was relly encouraged by this article.
    Thanks to the author.

  6. Will said on April 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    Amol Bhavsar, you’re welcome!

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