在Schedule / Cron上运行PHP / Javascript / AJAX应用程序？

Question

I have an application that I need to deploy that is a mix of pure PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX. It runs flawlessly on all machines when called in a browser. Unfortunately, I also need to deploy this application to a machine that won't be able to run a browser.

Just running the file using PHP will output the resulting file, but does not execute any of the Javascript.

What are my options to get this task running? The machine will have access to xampp, but not to a browser.

Edit: the application grabs data from MSSQL, uses Javascript to turn that data into charts, uses an AJAX call to save those files to disk, and then calls another PHP script to mail a copy of the resulting files.

Answer 1

It depends on what your exact Javascript needs are, but unfortunately, if your application truly depends on a browser (and can't be ported to something more appropriate for the constraint), you will need to "fake" the browser somehow. Here are a few options.

1. PhantomJS is basically a headless Webkit engine (think Chrome or Safari).
2. HtmlUnit for a Java based solution, supported/developed by Mozilla
3. Other rabbit holes (Wikipedia/Headless Browser)
4. NodeJS offers a non-browser, headless, Javascript specific option, but will require your code to be more robust and generic than many code bases initially are when originally coded for browsers.