PHP Settings – Main Settings

This page lets you configure the main settings for the PHP runtime.

PHP Version #

Use the combo box to select your desired PHP version.

More information is available about the available PHP versions and their system requirements.

Custom Virtual “Data” Subfolder Path #

By default, the “Data” virtual subfolder is located in the same folder as the application’s EXE. For example, if your EXE file is at E:\my folder\myprogram.exe, the path to the “Data” subfolder will be E:\my folder\data.

You can use the %EXEDIR% placeholder to include the path to your application’s executable file directory. The resulting path does not include a trailing backslash (). For example, you can enter %EXEDIR%\MySubfolder or %EXEDIR%\wwwroot.

For security reasons, such as placing virtual files in an inaccessible folder, you may want to choose a custom name for the “Data” virtual folder. The ExeOutput for PHP virtualization engine allows you to choose any virtual folder, even one on a non-existent drive. To do this, enable the option and enter an absolute path, such as X:\My Application\123456\Data.

Application Startup URL #

You can define the full URL that the application should load at startup. If you leave this field blank, the application will use the URL of the homepage selected in the File Manager.

This feature is useful for using frameworks or displaying remote websites. For instance, some PHP frameworks like Kohana use the PATH_INFO server variable to display pages. A PHP application can be started with index.php/Welcome, where /Welcome tells the framework to show the “Welcome” view.

For another example, if you enter http://www.exeoutput.com, the application will start and display the ExeOutput website. This is useful for creating a custom web browser.

Homepage Arguments #

To customize the homepage at runtime based on command-line arguments, for example, you can use the following code (to be added to the UserMain HEScript script):

procedure OnStartMainWindow;
begin
 // When the main window is going to be displayed (just before the homepage is shown).
 if ParamStr(1) = "/mode=debug" then
 begin
   SetGlobalVar("HomePage", "index.php?debugmode=1", false);
 end;
end;

Additional PHP File Extensions #

Define additional file extensions that should be treated as PHP scripts and passed to the PHP interpreter. Separate multiple extensions with a semicolon (;), for example: .ex1;.ex2.

For example, if you enter .png, all PNG files will be passed to the PHP interpreter.

Use Secure HTTPS for Internal Protocol #

ExeOutput for PHP uses its own internal protocol for displaying web content in the web browser engine. The base URL depends on the selected rendering engine: https://heserver/ for CEF and https://heserver.example/ for WebView2. The non-secure http:// and the alias ghe:// are also available. By default, the homepage will be opened at startup using the secure protocol unless you deactivate this option.

Enable Custom Router Handler in HEScript (OnRouterURL event) #

Enables the router handler script at runtime, allowing you to configure custom redirections for all requests directly in HEScript.

Read more about the custom router handler in HEScript

Reroute All Non-File Requests to Homepage #

This adds support for pretty URLs in your PHP applications, similar to Apache’s mod_rewrite in certain cases. All URLs that do not point to a file with an extension will be rewritten as if the application’s homepage was requested. The homepage should, of course, be the index.php router script of your framework.

For instance, https://heserver/Welcome or https://heserver.example/myapp/myaccount/1234/ would be rerouted, depending on the selected rendering engine.

See also PHP Debugging Options and PHP.INI.