Own Protocol Inside A PHP Page.
This is the version mostly described on the net. For example on Instructables. Basically you write an Arduino Scetch that listens and send plain text data on the serial port. A PHP Script triggered by a webserver request opens the port communicates with the Arduino board an outputs some HTML.The major downside of this approach is that many Arduino boards reset if the serial port is opened. So the startup and configuration has to be done any time the PHP scripts reads some data or triggers an action. Because the PHP script stops after the page request any data has to be stored in a database, cache or file.
Firmata
Firmata is a generic sketch for Arduino boards that implements an MIDI based protocol. Here are client libraries for several languages. For example Johnny Five for Javascript (Node.js) implements abstraction not only for the communication but for hardware elements. For example you get an led object with blink() and fade() methods.Firmata Inside A PHP Page.
Well, It is possible but you don't want to do that. Firmata has a little more complex startup process that takes about two seconds. To much to use it in a web request.Firmata Over TCP
The official version of Firmata uses the serial port. But here are forks that can use TCP. You need an compatible network shield for your Arduino board and the version may be a little behind the offical one.Non-Blocking I/O
Node.js uses an concept called Non-blocking I/O or Asynchronous I/O. Basically it means that you add actions to an event loop, trigger events from you objects that execute attached callbacks. Doesn't sound familiar? If you ever programmed some Javascript for your web pages, you used this concept. Each browser window has an event loop. Functions like "window.setTimeout()" add event to the loop. The browser fires event on the page elements that execute callbacks, if you attached them, too.So using this concept you describe what should happen if an events is triggered and a certain conditions are meet. In classic PHP you work with the current state. In Non-Blocking I/O the result has yet to be calculate at a future time.
Procedual Programming:
If the result of action x is value y now do that.Non-Blocking I/O
If the result of action x will be y you will have to do that.
Thinking like this is much better suited to hardware control, at the moment you are programming you do not now if somebody will ever press the button on your Arduino device or which values the sensor your connected will send.
Non-Blocking I/O in PHP
PHP has no default event loop implemented but here are several possibilities for it. First it whould be possible just using an while loop and usleep(). This would not be very efficient. Better is an combination of this with stream_select(). The "stream_select()" function is like a usleep() that monitors streams and return imminently if a stream is changed. It even says which stream is changed how, so it is possible to trigger the exact events for this stream.Event more efficient is using libevent. PHP has an extension for this event loop implementation. It is used inside the Chrome browser browser and Node.js, too.
Libraries For PHP
Here are libraries in PHP that implement event loops.ReactPHP
ReactPHP is the most mature project implementing Non-Blocking I/O for PHP. It a general purpose library and has additional components. You can read more about it on reactphp.org.
Carica Io
Caica Io is an implementation I created as a base for Carica Firmata, a client library for the Firmata protocol. It can used separately if you're going to implement your own protocol, too. Here is an basic example with timers:
The event loop uses the API not unlike the Browser. The main difference to Javascript in the Browser or Node.js is that you have to run the event loop explicitly.
Carica Firmata
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| The Firmata test application in Carica Firmata |
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