Is there anything I can use to have PHP execute in a self contained environment without having to install server software?
haven't learned other languages :-(
I wanted to write a simple php/XML webapp that can be used on a desktop machine with no admin rights. It's for daily data entry stuff myself and others have to do when certain tasks are completed. Its a work machine and security is super high so can't have the details traversing the internet to my hosting.
Any suggestions?
XAMPP Portable might be what you are looking for. You don't need admin rights to run it.
Regardless of what language you use, in order to have a webapp, you need a web server of some sort, to listen to requests and send a response back (even if it's just listening to localhost). It is possible to run php from a command line without a server, but I don't know if you want to convert your application to a command line one.
Assuming you're using Windows, there are solutions for compiling PHP into an exe file (a quick google search found Phc-win, for example). However, I've never actually done this myself so this be sure to fully investigate what this would entail! You'd most definitely need to rewrite your views to use some way of creating actual dialogs in Windows (ie. WinBinder, or wbObjects).
(Of course, if you wanted to convert it to a desktop app the best solution is to actually use a language meant for desktop development, but if you only know PHP and don't want to spend the time learning something else, this could suffice, I guess.)