Hey guys,

I was wondering: what program do you use to write your php code? Because I’m having trouble finding a program to my liking.

At the moment I mostly use Dreamweaver for xHTML and CSS because of the easy auto complete functions (Yes, I’m that lazy). All my projects in development are also online, seeing as I work from several spaces and don’t have a laptop. That’s were dreamweaver also comes in handy: I can easily create a new file online or edit online files easily without having to worry I’ll overwrite any page with an older cached one.

But Dreamweaver doesn’t have the functionality I need when writing PHP (like matching bracket highlighting etc). Also, using Dreamweaver seems a little overkill to me, seeing as I only use the code view and don’t need all of the fancy insert commands.

So that’s why I’m using Notepad++ at the moment for php editting. It’s lightweight and has great syntax highlighting (once editted a little by myself). But the ftp support is horrible. Eg: you can’t create a new file online or save a file to the server, you first have to save it on your hard disk and then upload it to your webdirectory.

I’ve tried Php designer 2008, but the autocompletion code and error handling are so annoying I immediatly uninstalled it.

So now I was wondering: which program do you guys use?

Plenty of editor threads on here - just do a search.

But one thing I did notice was that you want auto upload on changes of files. You can do this with Notepad++ - just download SmartFTP and set Notepad++ as your editor and then log into your site via ftp and right click and edit a file. Once you press save the changes are uploaded

Lone - 06 June 2008 03:34 AM

You can do this with Notepad++ - just download SmartFTP and set Notepad++ as your editor and then log into your site via ftp and right click and edit a file. Once you press save the changes are uploaded

I didn’t know that! But then I’d have to use two applications and switch back and forth between them. I’m looking for an editor that does both.

Didn’t use the search, sorry bout that, I saw the OS X topic and made one for windows without searching, will do that now. Thanks!

edit: trying out e. looks pretty solid to me, gonna test it out a little.

I use Dreamweaver cs3 for designing, and phpDesigner 2008 for coding.

phpDesigner2008 is absolute rubbish, try PHPedit by Waterproof, allows debug using DBG and Xdebug and has debug setup wizard. It automatically understands the CI core.

wiredesignz - 06 June 2008 05:36 AM

phpDesigner2008 is absolute rubbish, try PHPedit by Waterproof, allows debug using DBG and Xdebug and has debug setup wizard. It automatically understands the CI core.

Haven’t had any problems so far. It integrates CI very well, picking up all functions and vars that are available in the controller, model or view.

@WackyWebs, tell me, in phpDesigner2008, which menu has the the application preferences/setup menu? I couldn’t find it.

It is under the Tools -> Preferences (right at the bottom of the list.)

Okay, I’ve been using e texteditor the whole afternoon now and I must say. I’m digging it. It has the ftp support I need, proper highlighting, bundles (which are super easy) adjustable code hightlighting. Everything I need.

The only annoyance I have found so far is that it automatically closes { and (. Handy when you know where you’re going to, but just frustrating when you need to wrap a statement in an if {} block and you have to pay attention you delete the automatically added closing }

And that’s just a silly setting I just discovered. Perfect!

I bought e-texteditor a couple of days ago. I would of prefered to purchase Intype, but the development was so slow I found an alternative.

E-Texteditor has support for Text Mate bundles, code completion, commands, ftp support and many other little snippets to speed up your workflow. I can’t be considered an IDE though, it’s zooped up text editor

But then I’d have to use two applications and switch back and forth between them

Not really, you just browse to file in Smartftp and then right click edit and opens up notepad++ straight away - give it s go cause their both free

DreamWeaver CS3 / NotePad++ / E-Text Editor >> http://www.e-texteditor.com/

Lone - 06 June 2008 09:09 AM

But then I’d have to use two applications and switch back and forth between them

Not really, you just browse to file in Smartftp and then right click edit and opens up notepad++ straight away - give it s go cause their both free

True, but I’ve used smartftp in the past and it suddenly stopped working, twice. I had to restart it a bunch of times, click on the button to use the free non commercial version and it would just shut down.

And Popcorn is offcourse right, e isn’t really an IDE, but it gets the job done just perfectly well, and that’s all that matters for me atm…

a bit of an offtop: why are you even considering smartftp? filezilla > all hands down, been using it for years.

The best PHP IDE I’ve ever seen is PHP Eclipse. It supports a lot of languages and is also open-source; written in Java.

It has some great features for PHP5 > support, such as code-completion and more. Love it

I wonder why I never see anybody mentioning Zend Studio around here.  I’ve used it for years and absolutely love it.  Is it because it’s “costly”?