Get Started with RPCL Applications

RPCL Applications are web applications developed using the RPCL, a powerful PHP framework which brings Delphi’s VCL philosophy into PHP and web development in general.

The RPCL forms a PHP class hierarchy with a common ancestor: Object. Its most important descendant class, Component, is the common ancestor for other classes, those called ‘components’, which are the base of the RPCL.

The component approach allows programmers to extend the RPCL with many additional components, either brand new or based on existing components, bringing into PHP an unmatched level of code reuse, and making web development both easier and quicker, without sacrificying performance or flexibility.

Components

A component is a PHP class which has a purpose. They can be used toguether to compose PHP scripts, like pieces of a puzzle, and each of these pieces is designed to perform a certain task. For example, there are components to access databases, components to display and work with images, components to access mobile hardware features…

Each component has also:

Properties

They are component’s attributes. Use them to setup your component’s behavior or aspect according to your needs.

For example, a component might have a property called BackgroundColor for you to setup the background color the component should be rendered with.

Methods

They are actions you can get components to perform, so you can interact with them.

For example, a component for email management could have a send() method, and by calling that method you would send an email.

Events

They let you define how to react to certain situations that can happen along the life of a component.

For example, a component to render a button could have an OnClick event, which you could use to define what should happen when a user clicks the button.