Webview Extension for PHP

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A native PHP extension that provides lightweight, cross-platform embedded browser capabilities with window management features. Built on top of webview/webview, this extension enables developers to create desktop applications using web technologies.

Perfect for building single-file GUI applications when combined with static-php-cli and phpmicro.

Windows	macOS	Linux

Features

• Support for PHP: 8.3, 8.4, 8.5
• Cross-platform: Native support for Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Lightweight: Minimal overhead with native webview components
• Window Management:
  • maximize() / unmaximize() - Window maximization control
  • minimize() / unminimize() - Window minimization control
  • hide() / show() - Window visibility control
  • fullscreen($enable = true) - Fullscreen mode toggle
• State Monitoring: Real-time window state queries (maximized, minimized, visible, fullscreen)
• PHP Integration: Native extension with proper error handling and type safety

API Reference: See webview.stub.php for complete method documentation.

Quick Start

To quickly experience the webview extension, you can download pre-built PHP executables from the Releases page.

This build only includes a few extensions. For more functionality, please refer to the source build and GitHub Actions build below.

Linux/macOS

CLI:

# 1. Download the corresponding architecture php-cli-8.4-*.zip
# 2. Extract and set execution permissions
# 3. Run examples
chmod +x ./php
./php examples/basic.php

Micro:

# 1. Download the corresponding architecture php-micro-8.4-*.zip
# 2. Extract and set execution permissions
# 3. Merge into single file program and run
cat micro.sfx examples/basic.php > basic
chmod +x basic
./basic

Windows

Note: Windows version uses UPX compression and may trigger antivirus alerts. Please add to trust list or build from source.

CLI:

REM 1. Download the corresponding architecture php-cli-8.4-windows-*.zip
REM 2. Extract to any directory
REM 3. Run examples
.\php.exe examples\basic.php

Micro:

REM 1. Download the corresponding architecture php-micro-8.4-windows-*.zip
REM 2. Extract to any directory
REM 3. Merge into single file program and run
COPY /b micro.sfx + examples\basic.php basic.exe
.\basic.exe

Building from Source

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the required dependencies for your platform:

• Linux: GTK and WebKitGTK development packages
• macOS: Xcode command line tools
• Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools

Detailed Requirements: See webview/webview for platform-specific prerequisites.

Linux/macOS

phpize
./configure --enable-webview
make -j$(nproc)
make install

Windows

Follow the PHP Extensions guide for building PHP extensions on Windows.

Building with GitHub Actions

For easier building and distribution, you can fork this repository and use the pre-configured GitHub Actions workflows in this repository to automatically build PHP CLI/Micro executables with the webview extension.

Available Workflows

• Build for Unix: Builds static PHP CLI/Micro executables for Linux (x86_64, aarch64) and macOS (x86_64, aarch64)
• Build for Windows: Builds static PHP CLI/Micro executables for Windows (x86_64)

Static PHP CLI/Micro Build

You can use static-php-cli and phpmicro together to build static PHP CLI/Micro executables.

For specific operations, you can refer to the build-unix.yml and build-windows.yml files in the GitHub Actions workflows.