Installing the PHP UI Extension and Running a Snake Game Example

The article introduces the PHP UI (ui) extension, a graphical user interface library for PHP 7, and demonstrates its use by running a classic Snake game.

Installation requirements

Requirements:
    PHP 7
    libui (use current master)
    Windows/MacOSX/Linux (GTK-3)

Linux installation steps

sudo apt install re2c

git clone https://github.com/andlabs/libui.git
cd libui
sudo cp *.h /usr/local/include/
cmake .
cd out
sudo cp * /usr/lib/

Installing the UI extension

Method one: use pecl
    sudo pecl install channel://pecl.php.net/ui-2.0.0

Method two: build from source
    git clone https://github.com/krakjoe/ui.git
    cd ui
    phpize
    make
    sudo make install

Enable the extension

sudo echo 'extension=ui.so' > /etc/php/7.0/mods-available/ui.ini
sudo ln -s /etc/php/7.0/mods-available/ui.ini 20-ui.ini

Verify the installation with php -m and ensure ui appears in the module list.

Windows setup

Download the appropriate php_ui.dll for PHP 7 (nts, 64‑bit) and place it in the ext directory, then add extension=php_ui.dll to php.ini. Copy pthreadVC2.dll and libui.dll to the same folder as php.exe.

Testing the Snake game

After installing, navigate to the ui extension’s examples folder and run: php snake.php The script launches a graphical Snake game. Another example, starfield.php, demonstrates a particle effect.

These steps provide a complete guide to setting up the PHP UI extension and creating simple GUI applications with PHP.