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How to use Express.js with PHP programming?

WBOYOriginal: 2023-06-12 09:55:391135browse

In web development, PHP and Express.js (a Node.js-based web application framework) are both very popular technology options. For developers who are familiar with PHP but not Express.js, using Express.js can be a little tricky. However, with some basic knowledge and tips, you can still successfully use Express.js with PHP programming.

In this article, we will discuss how to use Express.js in PHP programming, covering the following topics:

Why use Express.js in PHP?
Installing and setting up Node.js and Express.js
Basics of using Express.js in PHP
Practical applications of using Express.js in PHP

Why use Express.js in PHP?

First of all, why use Express.js in PHP? what are the benefits?

Scalability: Express.js provides a fairly scalable infrastructure that can easily scale and manage web applications so that they can handle high traffic and increasingly frequent network requests.
Better performance: Express.js is built on Node.js, and its event-driven architecture delivers best-in-class performance and speed, especially when handling high volumes of requests.
Better front-end experience: Express.js allows front-end and back-end code to be managed separately. The backend can focus on data and business logic, while the front-end can focus on user experience and design.
Wider Ecosystem: The ecosystem of Node.js is very broad, so using Express.js allows you to benefit from all relevant Node.js plugins, libraries, and development tools.

Install and set up Node.js and Express.js

Before using Express.js, you need to install Node.js and npm (Node.js package manager) . On a Windows computer, you can download the appropriate installer from the Node.js official website.

After installing Node.js, it is very simple to install Express.js using npm. Just run the following command:

npm install express

This will automatically download and install Express.js from the npm repository.

The Basics of Using Express.js in PHP

Configuring Express.js in PHP

While we will be using Node.js and Express .js to manage the backend of the web application, but we still need to set up Express.js in PHP. Specifically, we need to provide a PHP file that will call Express.js from a JavaScript file. In this file, we can use the inline JavaScript code generated by PHP to call the Express.js API.

Here is an example method of introducing Express.js into a PHP file:

<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
    <title> Using Express.js in PHP </title>
</head>

<body>
    <h1> Using Express.js in PHP </h1>
    <p>Test PHP file with Express.js </p>

    <script type="text/javascript" src="http://localhost:3000/testExpress"></script>
</body>
</html>

In this example, we can see that a JavaScript code file using Express.js is referenced to the page middle. Note that this file is hosted on localhost port 3000, which is how we will use Express.js to run our web application.

Using Express.js in the backend

Using Express.js to manage data and requests going to the backend is very simple. In PHP, we can use network requests to connect our web application and our Express.js server. Here is a way to connect to the Express.js server in PHP:

<?php
$urlRequest = 'http://localhost:3000/testExpress';
$reqType = 'GET';

$curlRequest = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_URL, $urlRequest);
curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, $reqType);
curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$resReq = curl_exec($curlRequest);
curl_close($curlRequest);

echo($resReq);
?>

Note that we also need to use curl_init and curl_exec to connect to the Express.js server, and use curl_close when returning the response.

Practical application of using Express.js in PHP

With the above basic knowledge and skills, we can start to use Express.js in actual web development projects. Here is a simple example that demonstrates how to handle HTTP POST requests using Express.js in PHP:

<?php
    $urlRequest = 'http://localhost:3000/testExpress';
    $postData = array('name' => 'John Doe', 'email' => 'johndoe@example.com');

    $curlRequest = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_URL, $urlRequest);
    curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postData);
    curl_setopt($curlRequest, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

    $resReq = curl_exec($curlRequest);
    curl_close($curlRequest);

    echo($resReq);
?>

In this example, we send a POST request containing two form fields and send them to the Express.js server endpoint running on localhost. We then accessed the console and printed the request content to the screen.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how to use Express.js in PHP programming. Using Express.js offers benefits such as scalability, better performance and front-end experience, and a broader ecosystem. We also discussed how to configure and use Express.js in PHP, along with a simple real-world application example. If you already know PHP, learning how to use Express.js will make you a more well-rounded web developer.

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