Advice for getting started with PHP applications

  Please keep in mind that an application made with ExeOutput for PHP is not designed to work like on a web server: you may need to tweak your application and PHP code. We recommend you to see how the General Demonstration that ships with ExeOutput for PHP works (Application Menu button and click Start General Demo".

By default, PHP error and warning messages are displayed. Your PHP website may not work immediately in a compiled state, so these messages should help you to debug what is happening. You can turn them off in the PHP Settings => Debugging page thanks to the Display PHP error messages at runtime and Enable PHP error logging (errors will be stored to the file "php_errors.log" in the same folder as the EXE) options.

Fatal PHP errors can't be deactivated: an error page will be displayed (Fatal PHP Error). You can change the contents of the error message thanks to the SPHPFatalErrorMsg resource string.

If you are getting "file missing" errors or "php failed to open stream" warnings, see how you can access files in compiled applications.

If your PHP website requires extensions, you should first configure them in the PHP Extensions page.

If your PHP website requires MySQL, ExeOutput for PHP can include a portable MySQL server (MariaDB) with your PHP application and start/stop it automatically when your application is started/stopped.

If your application requires redirections to a script router, remember to configure them using the redirection feature described here. Be careful, .htaccess files for Apache are not supported.

You can tweak PHP parameters with the built-in PHP.INI editor.

If your PHP code reads the value of the current directory with getcwd, you should replace it. The current working directory (when you launch the EXE) is stored in a global variable named HEStartCurrentDirectory.

For security reasons, the "View source code" option in the final browser is disabled by default. You can enable it for debugging html code generated by your PHP scripts in the Components => Context Menu page: tick "EnableShowSourceCode".

You are using a PHP framework: see the dedicated page.

Finally, do not hesitate to post your questions or problems in our forum; solutions generally exist.

See also: how compiled PHP applications work