June 27th, 2006

For most people PHP is a language that allows them to create dynamic web pages, but not much else. Many developers have probably used PHP on the command line in the form of PEAR but even this does not take full advantage of PHP's power. PHP-GTK 2 is a PHP extension which combines the power of PHP 5 and Gtk+ 2 allowing developers to create standalone PHP applications free from the confines of a web browser. Applications written in PHP-GTK 2 can be much more powerful and interactive than those which rely on a web server.

This presentation will introduce the basic concepts of PHP-GTK 2. First we will discuss how an application can interact with the user via signals and events. Next we will see how to layout an application and present data to the user in many different formats. Finally, we will look at how to customize an application to give it a unique look and feel. These topics will be covered as we step through the process of creating a relatively simple PHP-GTK 2 application, which will be a sort of desktop mashup. The application will allow a user to search for an event using the EVDB web services API. Of course the user will want to know what the weather is like at the event, so the application will use the National Weather Service API to show the current weather in the destination city.

Scott Mattocks is a LAMP Developer for OnForce.com. He is also the author of "Pro PHP-GTK" (Apress 2006). Scott has been working with PHP-GTK several years. Not only has Scott been working with PHP and PHP-GTK, but he has also been contributing back to the community in many ways. Scott spent many hours to help improve the first set of documentation for PHP-GTK and is listed as one of the authors for the PHP-GTK 2 documentation. He has also contributed several PHP-GTK classes to PEAR and has added code to more traditional PEAR packages such as PHPUnit and Console_Getargs.

Thanks to IBM for providing a great presentation space with seating for plenty.

As a service to our community, New York PHP UG meetings are always free and open to the public.