PHP WebApp with windows clients
 

Hi guys,

I am in charge of a PHP Web Application project, and that now the client asked me for the possibility to make a windows application which runs on the client machines, and the clients would then use the windows application instead of their web browser (like the process of a client-server applications).

So, I was wondering from where to start reading about this approach or what do I need, a windows client and a PHP web app.

Thanks alot, and any further help would be very much appreciated.

Greetings,

One approach for this is to use something like the IE activeX object. Java too has a similar 3rd party IE class. Basically it's the same web app but runs on your own application.

Another slightly harder approach is to create a Server Side interface and then call this interface using HTTP GET and POST calls through your windows app for updating and receiving your centralized data.

I think the second approach might be what you're looking for.



Cheers,
vxc

Thanks for the quick reply vxc.

Yes, the second approach is more suitable. So, if i am right, the approach is turned into a client-server-server approach, where the "client-server"-server part manages the connection between the client and the server, and the client-"server-server" part is the interface which process the HTTP GET and POST requests, right?

Kind of. But without complicating it, when your PHP WebApp runs on your browser, it makes HTTP GET/POST queries. What you need to do is simulate this process using something like an INET control in your Windows app. Say user has entered something to a text field. When the user clicks on a button, your program queries the server using the appropriate GET or POST method with the information in the text field and calls this on the appropriate server side PHP page.


Of course there might be a better way to do this that I'm not aware of. I'd leave that to the experts here.



Good luck with your project.