php development tools (pdt),Getting Started with Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT)

Getting Started with Eclipse PHP Development

Tools (PDT)

Are you ready to take a step beyond writing code in a text

editor like UltraEdit, BBEdit, or TextMate? Would you like to see

those PHP and JavaScript syntax errors in the editor, without

transferring files to the server or opening a browser? If so, then

you're ready to jump into the world of the IDE — Integrated

Development Environment. I'll compare the free, open source Eclipse

IDE to a few of its commercial competitors Then we'll go through

the steps to install Eclipse PDT All-In-One, the Zend Debugger, JSEclipse, and Subclipse. Why an IDE? Let there be no

mistake, I still love BBEdit and TextMate. I use both daily at work

and at home for quick edits and I actually wrote this post in

TextMate. But if you spend a good portion of your day writing PHP,

an IDE will save you time in small increments by highlighting those

unbalanced braces and missing semicolons, displaying PHP function

arguments, and allowing you to debug your code right in the editor.

There are commercial IDEs available and I've use a few of them. I

tried an early version of Eclipse with the xored studio but the

combo wasn't feature-rich and didn't perform as well as Zend

Studio. I later switched from Zend to Active State's Komodo. I've

been happy Komodo but it's sluggish performance on my PPC Mac drove

me back to giving Eclipse another try. I started using Eclipse with

PDT at work about a year and am amazed at how much PDT, formerly

PHP IDE, has improved over the past four years. Eclipse is first a

Java development environment, but extensions exist for a bunch of

other languages, including Perl, Ruby, and Tcl. Okay, enough with

the commentary, let's get to it, shall we?

Download and install Eclipse PDT All-In-One

Installation couldn't be easier. Visit

the Eclipse PDT download page, select a stable build link, scroll

down to the PDT All-in-One section, and select the download for

your platform. http://download.eclipse.org/tools/pdt/downloads/ Once the

download is complete, unpack and move the 'eclipse' folder to your

Applications or Program Files folder. Fire up Eclipse, create a new

PHP file or project, and code away.

Install the Zend Debugger

Out of the box, Eclipse provides PHP syntax highlighting, code

completion, PHP documentation, phpDoc support, and more. Local and

server debugging, however, require the installation of XDebug or

Zend Debugger extension. Here's how to enable local debugging with

the Zend Debugger.

Select Help->Software

Updates->Find and Install

Select Search for new features to install, click Next

Click the New Remote Site button...

Zend Debugger now appears checked in the Sites to include in

search list, click Finish

The update manager searches for the files to download

All Zend Debugger options should be checked on the Search

Results screen, click Next

Agree to the licensing terms, click Next

Select the Zend Debugger in the Features to Install screen, you

can change the install location, but the default is recommended,

click Finish

Verify the Zend Debugger on the Feature Verification screen,

click Install All

After installation you'll be asked to restart Eclipse for the

changes to take affect

You should now have a PHP Debug

Perspective, complete with variable tracing, breakpoints, and CLI

and browser debug output views.

Install JSEclipse

To add improved JavaScript editing

abilities to Eclipse, install JSEclipse from Adobe Labs. JSEclipse

also provides editing support for popular JavaScript libraries,

including YUI, Dojo, Prototype, and more. To install JSEclipse with

the Update Manager

Select Help->Software

Updates->Find and Install

Select Search for new features to

install, click Next

JSEclipse now appears checked in the Sites to include in search

list, click Finish

The update manager searches for the files to download

Check the JSEclipse version check box on the Search Results

screen, click Next

Agree to the licensing terms, click Next

Select JSEclipse in the Features to Install screen, you can

change the install location, but the default is recommended, click

Finish

Verify JSEclipse on the Feature Verification screen, click

Install All

After installation you'll be asked to restart Eclipse for the

changes to take affect

To create a new JS file, select

New->File->Other->Web->JavaScript.

You should now have code completion and error highlighting for

JavaScript files.

Install Subclipse

To add support for Subversion revision management you'll need to

install Subclipse from tigris.org, the developers of Subversion. To

install, let's use the Update Manager again.

Select Help->Software

Updates->Find and Install

Select Search for new features to install, click Next

Click the New Remote Site button...

Subclipse now appears checked in the Sites to include in search

list, click Finish

The update manager searches for the files to download

Check the Subclipse version check box on the Search Results

screen. You may need to install dependent extensions for the

Subclipse integrations (I didn't select integrations), click

Next

Agree to the licensing terms, click Next

Select Subclipse in the Features to Install screen, you can

change the install location, but the default is recommended, click

Finish

Verify Subclipse on the Feature Verification screen, click

Install All

After installation you'll be asked to restart Eclipse for the

changes to take affect

To checkout an existing Subversion repository

Select

New->File->Other->SVN->Checkout

Projects from SVN, click Next

Create a New Repository, click Next

Enter the URL for the SVN repository you want to checkout,

click Next

If the repository URL is secure, accept the SSL

certificate

Select the folder(s) to checkout

Create a new Project, select the Project type, PHP Project in

this case, click Next

Enter a Project name, workspace, and any other project specific

settings, click Finish

You'll see an overwrite warning that any SVN repository files

with the same names as Eclipse settings files, normally you

shouldn't need to worry about this, click OK

The project is checked out of the

repository

I've just started to use some of the

data integration and design extensions available for Eclipse and

will post a followup soon. In the meantime, happy coding!

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