, (*1)
Extensionless PHP Graphic User Interface library, (*2)
, (*3)
, (*4)
Table of Contents
Why
PHP can be more than a "Web Language", it's a fast language, with a cross platform interpreter and a good CLI. GUI is a natural step for completing this ecosystem., (*5)
For many years, GUI projects are being developed for PHP, like PHP-GTK, PHP-QT, wxPHP and so many others, but none of them became popular., (*6)
This project aims to solve the most common problems of existing "GUI Projects":, (*7)
- The need for installing an extension
- Cross platform
- No external dependencies
- Easy to install (composer require php-gui) / Easy to use ($button = new Button)
Requirements
The following PHP versions are supported:, (*8)
And OS:, (*9)
- Linux x64
- Windows x64
- Mac OSX (tested on 10.10.x and 10.11.x)
Usage
Download the library using composer:, (*10)
Stable version
$ composer require gabrielrcouto/php-gui
Latest version (development)
$ composer require gabrielrcouto/php-gui:dev-master
Now, you can build a GUI application. Let's do a Hello World!, (*11)
Create the file 'myapp.php':, (*12)
<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Gui\Application;
use Gui\Components\Button;
$application = new Application();
$application->on('start', function() use ($application) {
$button = (new Button())
->setLeft(40)
->setTop(100)
->setWidth(200)
->setValue('Look, I\'m a button!');
$button->on('click', function() use ($button) {
$button->setValue('Look, I\'m a clicked button!');
});
});
$application->run();
Now, run it:, (*13)
php myapp.php
Simple? :clap: You don't need to compile anything, just download the library via composer and use it! :smile:, (*14)
Documentation
We have a Documentation Page, (*15)
But, if you want to see some examples, just follow the instructions below., (*16)
# clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gabrielrcouto/php-gui.git
cd php-gui
# install dependencies
composer install
# run examples
php examples/01-basic/example.php
php examples/02-animation/example.php
php examples/03-window/example.php
php examples/04-multiple-windows/example.php
php examples/05-canvas/example.php
php examples/06-ping/example.php
php examples/07-php-internals/example.php
php examples/08-alert/example.php
php examples/09-3d-perspective/example.php
How it works
To create a GUI without the need for an extension, PHP executes a binary with proc_open and communicates with it using Stdin/Stdout Pipes--it's a fast and cross platform solution., (*17)
PHP = Stdin/Stdout Pipes = Lazarus Application = GUI, (*18)
The binary is created using Lazarus (Free Pascal). After much research, I found a large advantage by using Lazarus over other desktop languages (like C#, Java...):, (*19)
, (*20)
It doesn't have any dependencies (except for Linux, which needs GTK), has a good component library, is compiled, open source and has a nice slogan (Write Once, Compile Anywhere)., (*21)
The communication (IPC) between PHP and Lazarus is performed using a protocol based on JSON RPC. You can view the specification here., (*22)
Contributors Guide
Components names
To be an easy to use library, this project will use HTML friendly names for the components, as PHP developers are more familiar with it., (*23)
Examples:, (*24)
- On Lazarus, the property "caption" is for the text of a button. On php-gui, the property name is "value".
- On Lazarus, "Edit" is the component for text input, on php-gui, it's "InputText".
Compiling Lazarus App
On your Local Machine
First, you need to install Lazarus., (*25)
For compiling the lazarus binary:, (*26)
lazbuild phpgui.lpr
Using Docker
If you are generating the Linux binary, you can use Docker:, (*27)
lazarus/linux-docker.sh
cd lazarus/
lazbuild phpgui.lpr
Test
First install the dependencies, and after you can run:, (*28)
bin/phing
TO-DO
The "Issues" page from this repository is being used for TO-DO management, just search for the "to-do" tag., (*29)
Credits
@gabrielrcouto, (*30)
@reisraff, (*31)
License
MIT License, (*32)
, (*33)
Wallogit.com
