Can I use PHP/PEAR without a webserver?

matleeds

Hi there,

I'm after a bit of clarification. On the project I'm working on I installed/configured php and pear and apache web server all on my laptop and have been developing my project ok..so far so good.

The project involves a scheduled task on the clients pc's which runs a batch file that runs a php script which interrogates an sql server db and sends the data to a web server where it is processed. This works ok on my laptop.

Now it's dawned on me that when this is used in the real world the client pc won't have a web server running on it (as I have on my laptop). So (and this is where my limited experience with PHP comes in) can I just install PHP/PEAR onto a clients pc (by install I mean just copy the relevant folders/files onto their pc) and set the scheduled task to run the batch file...will this work? or does both PHP and PHP require some interaction with a web server.

Also, re. PEAR. When I installed PHP I then ran the go-pear file which did the installing of PEAR. Should I do this for my real world installation or can I just copy my my PHP/PEAR folders/files from my laptop (with a bit of config/ini file tweaking) ...does the PEAR install put anything into the windows registry?

thanks,

bradgrafelman

matleeds;10987726 wrote:
can I just install PHP/PEAR onto a clients pc (by install I mean just copy the relevant folders/files onto their pc) and set the scheduled task to run the batch file...will this work?

It will work if you install PHP correctly (which requires doing more than just copying files), yes. Nothing about the installation or use of PHP (or PEAR) requires a webserver to be present at any point.

matleeds;10987726 wrote:
Should I do this for my real world installation or can I just copy my my PHP/PEAR folders/files from my laptop (with a bit of config/ini file tweaking) ...does the PEAR install put anything into the windows registry?

I believe PEAR does modify either the registry or the system environment variables. Either way, you can't just copy files over to "install" PHP or PEAR. PHP, for example, will most likely require that its installation directory be added to your system's PATH environment variable.