An Introduction to the Winbinder Library, Part 1
(Page 1 out of 3)Abstract
In this new article series you will be introduced to the Winbinder Library, and shown exactly what it can do. In this first part you will learn what the Winbinder library is, and you will be given two examples.
Introduction
PHP is used for many different things, and almost anything is possible, including command line scripts (see a recent article on PHPit on command line script). But it's also possible to create full-blown Windows applications using PHP and the Winbinder library, and that's what we'll be looking at in this new article series.
In this first part I'll explain what Winbinder is and what it can do. We'll also have a look at two simple examples.
What exactly is Winbinder?
Winbinder is a "native Windows binding for PHP". It allows you to create native Windows applications, using PHP code. All you have to do is write the necessary PHP, and Winbinder will automatically convert that to the right code so Windows can run the application.
Winbinder isn't the only type of project that does this, and there are others like GTK, but Winbinder is specifically meant for Windows applications, whilst GTK is cross-platform. This might sound negative, since it means Winbinder can't create Linux or Mac OSX applications, but it actually offers a few benefits. Because Winbinder is purely focused on Windows, it has a might tighter integration with the Windows API, and offers some functions that allow you to directly communicate with the Windows API. Furthermore, Winbinder also makes it possible to use the Windows registry.
Enough about Winbinder itself, let's jump right in, and have a look at how it works. Make sure you have Winbinder installed if you want to run the examples. To install Winbinder, click here to download it and follow the install instructions. I recommend downloading the full ZIP file, as that was the easiest option for me.
May 3rd, 2006 at 5:49 am
[…] Tutorial Source: PhpIt.net - Download […]
May 4th, 2006 at 6:31 am
looks really need. I would like to see some examples involving sql; plus is there any way to integrate it with web applications?? It would be great for example to have a website with pictures and then create something in Winbinder to upload pictures on it. Something like Flickr does.
August 23rd, 2006 at 11:54 am
This is really impressive.
I think it could be also good for user authentification. Though it is necessary to encrypt traffic at client side and decrypt on server side, as well as updating the client software with different algorithms to avoid a security leak through cracking the code by reverse engineering.