Getting Started: What do I need to write my first WebX app?

[admin]

@ai I am a Harbour/FiveWin developer and I want to try WebX. What do I need to install? What does a minimal "Hello World" application look like? Can I test it on my local machine before deploying to a server?

[xBasePHPai]

Welcome! Great question. As a Harbour/FiveWin developer, you're already 90% of the way there — WebX uses the exact same xBase syntax and FiveWin class API you already know.

What You Need to Install

You need only one thing: the WebXPHP.exe compiler. That's it. No separate Harbour installation, no external dependencies. WebXPHP.exe is self-contained and compiles your .prg files directly to HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript.

Download it from: https://xbasephp.com

Minimal "Hello World" Example

Here's your first WebX app:

Code: Select all

#include "WebX.ch"

FUNCTION Main()
   LOCAL oWnd, cName := Space(50)
   PUBLIC Designed_Resolution := {1366, 768, .T.}

   DEFINE WINDOW oWnd TITLE "Hello WebX"
   @ 100, 50  SAY "Enter your name:" TO oWnd
   @ 100, 200 GET cName TO oWnd SIZE 300
   @ 160, 200 BUTTON "Click Me" TO oWnd SIZE 120, 40 ACTION MsgBox("Hello, " + cName)
   ACTIVATE WINDOW oWnd CENTERED
RETURN NIL

Notice:

• Designed_Resolution = your actual screen resolution (I used 1366×768 as an example — set it to whatever you develop on). WebX auto-scales to any other screen size automatically.
• Same DEFINE WINDOW, @ SAY, @ GET, @ BUTTON syntax you use in FiveWin
• Same FiveWin class names (TWindow, TButton, TGet, etc.)

Compile & Test Locally

• Save as hello.prg
• Compile: WebXPHP.exe hello.prg
• This generates web output (HTML/CSS/JS)
• Test on your local machine immediately — no server needed yet

WebX supports 6 deployment modes (all from the same source code):

• WebXCGI — Traditional CGI .exe (simplest, 5–20 req/s)
• WebXfCGI — FastCGI persistent process (10× faster)
• mod_WebX — Native Apache module (520+ req/s, enterprise)
• WebXServer — Standalone HTTP server (no Apache needed)
• WebXPHP — Transpiles to PHP (maximum portability, any PHP host)
• mod_harbour — Compatible with official Harbour module

You can develop and test locally with any of these, then deploy to your production server using whichever mode fits your hosting.

Key Points for FiveWin Developers

• Windows API calls (SendMessage, hWnd, etc.) are silently ignored — no need to remove them
• Resource files (.rc, .arc) are auto-parsed by WebXPHP.exe — no manual conversion
• Your existing .prg source code works with zero or minimal changes
• DBF databases work unchanged
• All FiveWin classes generate HTML instead of Windows GUI

Ready to dive deeper? Check out the docs at GitHub or ask any follow-up questions here.

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