Question

I’m not sure if this has even been done before, but what I am trying to accomplish can’t be explained in any great detail, but basically, what I am trying to do is Process PHP scripts from within my C# Windows Forms Application.

I have already created a HTTP server, which works just fine. But now I need to be able to process PHP scripts aswell. We’re working on a new privatised language over here, purely for learning and fun.

(Just a little background, not completely related):

We are now able to create a webpage like so:

Using System.Core,
System.Http,
System.Graphics and System.IO;

    protected void -> Webpage(object homepage)
    {
        // Set Webpage properties.
        homepage.Name = "Home";
        homepage.Size = new Size(960[px], 100[%]);
        homepage.Alignment = new AlignmentType.Vertical;
        homepage.Alignment = new AlignmentType.Horizontal;

        // This is a comment.
        // Create objects to be rendered on the page.

        Text text = new Text();
        FormElements formElements = new FormElements();

        private void -> Webpage.Load(object homepage)
        {
            text.Text = "Please enter your name below:";

            text.Style = new Style(
                Alignment = new AlignmentType.Horizontal,
                Alignment = new AlignmentType.ManualAlignment(15[Y, px]),

                Font = new Font(
                    Font.Family("Arial"),
                    Font.Size = new Size(9[pt], LineHeight(4[px])),
                    Font.Color = new Color.FromArgb(15, 15, 15))
            );

            formElements.CreateElements(TextField["textField"], SubmitButton["submitButton"], Form["form"]);

            textField.Name = "name";
            submitButton.Name = "submit";

            form.Encapsulate(name, submit);

            form.Alignment = new AlignmentType.RelativeTo(text.Bottom);

            Elements[] elements = new Elements[]
            {
                text, form;
            };

            homepage.Display.Element.ElementCollection(elements);
        }

        private void -> Webpage.FormSubmission(object form)
        {
            form.Element(name).OmitSpecialCharacters();

            if(form.Value is not Empty)
            {
                text.Text = "Hello, " + form.Element(name).Value;
            }
        }
    }

The above sample demonstrates the ability to create a whole webpage, style it, and process form input in a nice, clean way. However, we’ve come to a complete dead end (trying to support PHP) and we do not wish to delve too far into server-side languages (lack of experience in that area is the main reason), so we would like to be able to “support” PHP scripts from within our WinForms app.

Anyone know of any way to process PHP scripts from within a C# winforms app?

Answer 1

Use an HttpWebRequest, and request the url to the PHP page like you would to run the PHP page in your browser.

See here for more info: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.httpwebrequest.aspx