ev3php is a PHP extension for ev3dev.
With ev3php, you can use (nearly) the full power of ev3dev with PHP.

When I looked after the supported programming languages by ev3dev, I have to decide which I want to use. For me, compiled languages were out of the question because, in my opinion, it is a hindrance to always have to wait until the program has been compiled.
Fitting my needs, there would be (Micro-)Python, Perl, Prolog and Ruby. But I doesn't like the syntax of those languages/have no knowledge. First, I have used MicroPython because of it's official LEGO edition. But after a few hours I didn't feel like coding python anymore, because of it's (in my view) weird syntax. Perl would be an alternative, but it wasn't updated since 2015 and has a big library file. Then I have the idea of writing an extension for a simple, interpreted scripting language. I've selected PHP because of it's simple opportunity to write an extension. But I doens't want to write an own wrapper for ev3dev, so I looked for a simple and small C wrapper. The normal library is very big and has a complicated interface, but under abadoned/unfinished libraries was ev3c, which is very small (~80KB) and has a simple interface. The only matter was that there was a bug with drawing rectangles on LCD, but I was able to fix it. Then I wrote an interface for PHP with only ~1000 lines of code. Compiled to .so it is only 42 KB big, only 10% of the size of the Perl wrapper!

ev3php supports nearly all functions of ev3dev, if you think that I have forgotten one, please open an issue.

• LCD (text, rectangles, ellipses, circles, lines, pixels, clear screen)
• Buttons (get pressed, is pressed)
• Battery (current, voltage)
• Motors (run degree, run forever, stop, get position, set position, wait until finished)
• Sensors (set driver, touch sensor, ultrasonic sensor, infrared sensor including controller, color sensor)
• Speaker

At first you have to install ev3dev on a microSD-card (tutorial).
To run an ev3php program, you have to stop/remove brickman, because of otherwise they would get in each other's way. I recommend using the installer, but with the installer, you are NOT able to use another programming language! It is not documented how to use ev3php without the installer, but it's clear: you have to download/compile the ev3php.so and include it in the php.ini with extension=ev3php.so.
If you want to use the installer, first you have to add internet access to the ev3 (e.g. with USB cable or WiFi-Dongle). Then you have to run the following command:

sudo wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lukastautz/ev3php/main/install.sh | sudo sh

Or use the minimal installer, wich does NOT uninstall packages but only disable them. The installation is faster, but you need more space on the microSD-card.

sudo wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lukastautz/ev3php/main/minimal.sh | sudo sh

Important: If you don't use ev3dev stretch, I don't know whether you will have to compile ev3php yourself.

If you want to connnect to a wifi network with a wifi dongle, you can use connmanctl:

robot@ev3dev:~$ connmanctl
Error getting VPN connections: The name net.connman.vpn was not provided by any
connmanctl> enable wifi
Enabled wifi
connmanctl> scan wifi
Scan completed for wifi
connmanctl> services
     AH04044914           wifi_e8de27077de3_41483034303434393134_managed_psk
     Frissie              wifi_e8de27077de3_46726973736965_managed_psk
     ruijgt gast          wifi_e8de27077de3_7275696a67742067617374_managed_psk
     schuur               wifi_e8de27077de3_736368757572_managed_psk
connmanctl> agent on
Agent registered
connmanctl> connect wifi_e8de27077de3_41483034303434393134_managed_psk
Agent RequestInput wifi_e8de27077de3_41483034303434393134_managed_psk
   Passphrase = [ Type=psk, Requirement=mandatory ]
Passphrase? [ENTER_YOUR_PASSPHRASE_HERE]
Connected wifi_e8de27077de3_41483034303434393134_managed_psk
connmanctl> quit

The main program is in /ev3php/ev3.php. If you have edited it and don't want to reboot every time.., there is a solution: Simply execute ev3 in the terminal and you will see the output of the program in the terminal. If you want to log things and doesn't want to start a ssh session every time, you can easy output to standard output, e.g. with echo or printf or similar. The output is saved in /ev3php/stdout.txt. If you want to install a PHP extension, you can copy the .so file in /ev3php/php and edit the /ev3php/php/php.ini.

lukastautz.github.io/ev3php

ev3php/examples

ev3php Desktop is a Windows program for managing the ev3 brick. Download: ev3php-desktop.exe. Currently it is only a windows project, the are no plans for porting!

ev3php is licensed under the GNU General Public License 3.0 (check out LICENSE).

Copyright (C) 2022 Lukas Tautz