NYCPHP Meetup

[Edgar Reyes]

Hello,

I think the best solution for what you are looking to do is to use Flash,
you can code all the data in , you can make the flash file an executable
file and just a small auto run script will make it start automatically..

Edgar
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jayesh Sheth" <jayeshsh at ceruleansky.com>
To: <talk at lists.nyphp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:07 AM
Subject: [nycphp-talk] using PHP for an offline / CD-ROM presentation


> Hello all,
>
> I have done some research on the topic of using PHP to power a CD-based
> presentation/data retrieval program; I have not come up with any good
> answers yet (on how best to utilize PHP for this purpose). I thought
> that the smart people on this list might have insight into this issue.
>
> The problem is as follows:
> I would like to create a program that pop-ups when a user inserts a CD
> into their computer. This program will let the user enter the product
> code of Company A or Company B and it, in turn, will display the
> corresponding code for the same product manufactured by Company C. (This
> project would be for Company C.) When the code for the product by
> Company C is shown, corresponding details such as product image and
> specifications should also be available.
>
> So, I would (most probably) need to store all this product data in a
> database, and then retrieve that information from another program.
>
> Doing this thing with PHP, Apache and MySQL is no problem. The problem,
> however, occurs when I want to package this program onto a CD. Wouldn't
> a PHP, Apache, MySQL combination be too heavy for an offline,
> run-from-CD program? Would users cancel any installation program and not
> use the CD if it were that heavy? What would other solutions to this
> problem be?
>
> Here are some answers I came up with:
>
> * PHP-GTK - http://gtk.php.net/ + SQLite
> I looked into PHP-GTK and played with it a bit. It looks nice, but I am
> still confused by the wide variety of tools available for it, especially
> on Windows. And I am not sure if PHP-GTK programs can talk to SQLite. If
> they can, I am not sure how to package my PHP-GTK programs along with
> the PHP binary and the SQLite database  on a CD. Can anyone recommend a
> good book on PHP-GTK ?
>
> * XUL + PHP + MySQL / XUL + PHP + SQLite
> The MozPHP plugin available at http://mozphp.mozdev.org/ lets you run
> PHP scripts directly through Mozilla, without needing the Apache server.
>   So, I could add Mozilla to the CD (along with the MozPHP plugin) and
> then make Mozilla display a PHP script which will generate a XUL based
> interface. The PHP script will still have to access some database:
> SQLite, perhaps? MySQL, maybe?
>
> If it is MySQL, is there an embeddable / portable version of MySQL?
>
> * JavaScript + XUL + MySQL -
> There is are a couple of Mozilla add-ons that lets Mozilla directly
> access a MySQL database via JavaScript.
> There is one by Jan Varga at mozilla.org (the one that looked better),
> but I cannot find the URL for it now.
> The other one is at http://mysql.mozdev.org/ .
> I do not like JavaScript's syntax that much, and as far as I remember
> both add-ons were not documented that much.
>
> * Java + MySQL / Java + SQLite / Java + Berkeley DB
> Well, in this option I am abandoning PHP totally. I will use Java to
> create a program that embeds another database engine.
>
> Which option do you think is the best / most practical? Is PHP suited to
> making offline programs ? Can MySQL be embedded in PHP / Java programs ?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> - Jay Sheth
>
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