Editor used for PHP

[piersk]

dannys?? Haven't seen you around for ages!! Way back in June of last year in fact

[Roger Ramjet]

UltraEdit is the only one for me, and I even sent Ian the $35 license fee for it it's so good (plenty of hacks out there).

[vitalyb]

I advised before to use PHPEdit (http://www.waterproof.fr/) however since, besides the fact PHPEdit is no longer Freeware, I found a MUCH better product. It is amazing as a text editor and it is simply GREAT for PHP. Best of all, it is free and actively developed by a very nice and responsive person.

Here you go: PSPad (http://www.pspad.com/)

Here's a quote from the PSPad homepage:

* work with plain text - it has a wealth of formatting functions, including a spell checker
* create web pages - as web authoring editor PSPad contains many unique tools to save you time
* use a good IDE for you compiler - catch and parse compiler output, integrate external help files, compare versions, and much more.....

There is no complex install process, the program is ready to work immediately, without requiring customization. PSPad supports many file types and languages, with syntax highlighting. There are macros, clip files and templates to automate repetitive activities. An integrated HEX Editor, Project support, FTP Client, Macro Recorder, File Search/Replace, Code Explorer, code page conversion, are just some of the many possibilities that PSPad can offer you.

[laserlight]

I've seen PSPad before, but never really took a close look, until just now when I decided to check out its hex editor.

I was greeted with a very familiar piece of license text - and realised it was the zlib/libpng license, though not stated as such. It is licensed under an open source license!
heh, I may contemplate changing loyalties from my closed source freeware editor, win32pad, after so long.
But win32pad is really tiny and lightweight, which can be a Good Thing at times.
This editor is much more feature-filled, and is also much larger and complex.

[BuzzLY]

Originally posted by Roger Ramjet
UltraEdit is the only one for me, and I even sent Ian the $35 license fee for it it's so good (plenty of hacks out there). So did I. In fact, he lives right here in Cincinnati, although I have yet to stalk-- er, meet him.

[bubblenut]

FOR VIM - sorry, forgot to mention that the first time :queasy:

If anyone's interested you can find a PHP5 syntax highlighting script here (http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=967)
Install it by copying it to the $VIMRUNTIME/syntax directory.

HTH
Bubble

[coffeehead]

I used to just use the Source page on Adobe GoLive (CS), but lately I've been using Editplus for PHP. The color-coding for PHP is great, and its pretty simple too (easy on my little mind!).

[hasin]

I use PHPCoder, DreamWeaverMX2004 and Finally Zend Studio 3.5 Since 3.0 Beta Version.

But Like Dreamweaver MX 2004 Most.

[davidjam]

I use GoLive 6 for Mac OS X.

What I like about GL aside from the fact that I am a newb to hard-core codin' and the fact that I own it (and paid a few $$$, I must say) and aside from the fact that I am a graphic designer - 10 yrs.+, converting to programming, therefore more visual oriented, etc, -- GL provides sophisticated "site management".

So, some debate a few posts ago about professionals using editors, etc, I don't think anyone can say yay or nay about anothers approach. period. But if one is interested in a more complete "package"-to-client (including visual theme and crossing the ts and dottin the is), I think that a program like GL is going to support that framework.

PS: I was evaluating Zend Studio and I like the fact that you can have the same file open in GL and Studio and changes made in GL automatically are updated in studio -- right into the line itself! And I like how my own classes methods functions are auto-helped-to-completion on the fly. But I agree, it is a tad memory intensive -- probably need a 1GHz processor to work really nice.

[gregmiller]

PHPCoder .... its lightweight . I worked on DreamWeaver before ..... its good but very heavy .
Gosh must try VIM .... I see a lot of following here!

Greg

[MarkR]

I use kate under Linux. Its PHP highlighting is generally good, but doesn't autocomplete or anything fancy like that.

Supports code folding but I never use that

I'm still on the look-out for a really good editor though, PHP Eclipse is a possibility (Although a little heavy, my machine doesn't really have enough memory)

Mark

[furtivefelon]

i use Dreamweaver MX 2004 under windows xp.. being using different versions of dreamweaver for two years now.. i'm loving it:)

[furtivefelon]

i use Dreamweaver MX 2004 under windows xp.. being using different versions of dreamweaver for two years now.. i'm loving it:)

[bubblenut]

Do you double use it or is that a post for each year of use? :p ;)

[furtivefelon]

lol.. sorry about that, i double clicked on the submit button.. does this forum has a flood control?

[bubblenut]

Well, it's supposed to but it seems to forget every now and then and let one through

[LordShryku]

Originally posted by gregmiller
Gosh must try VIM .... I see a lot of following here!
One of the real advantages to vim, and the main reason I use it for my coding, is that it's on the server. Well, every nix or BSD server I use has it. I don't have to install it on my computer then FTP my files or any of that good stuff. Just ssh into the server, write the script, and I'm done. Beyond all that, it's the most powerful text editor I've found.

[melody]

can't beat joe... lovely editor, i'm not into all these fangled 'features' - just a nice simple one does the job.

p.s. anyone noticed how old this thread is?

[dalecosp]

Originally posted by melody
p.s. anyone noticed how old this thread is? Oh, yeah. At least, some of us, like the ones who were around when it started.

This is an interesting community. The board was rebuilt (was in summer two years ago?) and many of the old posts, when transferred, lost data about "whom" and possibly "when".

Since that time, people have become "regulars", some threads have become "classics*", and this is one of 'em. It's mentioned in the "Echo Lounge FAQ", for example.

If you read through the archives, you'll see where some of us also finally realized that leaving a poll "open ended" in terms of time was potentially not such a Good Thing(tm) because it means that ancient threads keep popping back to the front of the forum if someone votes on 'em. I pretty sure that's happened here.

Maybe it'd be interesting to see if anybody's got a mail filter set on the title of this thread...


------------------------------------------------------
dalecosp
Archaeologist, dinosaur, resident historian wannabe...

* Yeah, that's a rather loose use of the term, I think we all know...

[cyberlew15]

I use My very own BigLew WebSite Builder Tools Created Specifically by me For Me!! I think it is the only answer for a hardcore web designer. Give two weeks then check out http://www.biglew.co.uk and I will have screenshots posted.

The two weeks is because until then I'm taking my site offline for maintainance.

ps you guys should get Envelop Basic or Visual Basic cos they are great for RAD development so any changes can be added

[kender]

i use notepad2 for quick and dirty editing, and actually made it my default for most programming

it has a stay on top option, and very nice syntax colouring for several languages

you can get it here (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/), they do have a few screenshots -

it is small, no install (comes with reg edit keys to add functionality, though its not necessary to run it), and very fast to load

[pohopo]

anyone use NuSphere PhpED? i want an editor that will speed up development and the two bigs ones seem to be this and Zend studio. If it can improve my development time by 5%-10% then it will be well worth the cost.

[Roger Ramjet]

Just downloaded a PHP dev tool from sourceforge, looks very interesting, here's the blurb

Dev-PHP is a full-featured IDE for PHP. It is fast, it is powerful, it is easy to use and it has a lot of cool features like a class browser, an internal browser to preview scripts and full integration with the PHP parser and the PHP-GTK library

Comes with PHP 5.0 so it's a chance to get up to speed with the new class libraries. I'll ley you know how I get on with it.

[laserlight]

Darn, was it on 19 April last year that I posted about starting to use Win32Pad as my general purpose text editor for MS Windows?

I've stuck with Win32Pad, but I have been looking around for text editors similiar to it (in certain ways peculiar to myself), and yet are licensed under an Open Source license.
Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm), licensed under the GPL, seems to fit the bill, but it has much larger an executable than Win32Pad.
At least I can compile it from my own computer, I suppose :)

[edwardp]

I'm using Notepad++, covers, java, sql, C, C++, C#, HTML, xml, ini, perl, python, pascal, XML, javascript and more

When i downloaded it; was free

Get it from Sourceforge (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/about.php)

[Shrike]

The latest version of PHPEclipse really rocks, particulary in conjunction with Quantum DB. PHP 5 support, PHPUnit support, in-editor parser messages, intellisense type stuff - the list goes on. Not only is this software free but it's now a doddle to install using the new extension manager. Just plain sweet :)

[chrisranjana]

The currently unsupported PFE editor works for me fine.

[Cogs]

I'm using an unsupported free version PHPEdit. However when the next PHP designer comes out (and if it has code a beautifier like PHPEdit), than I'm switching to that.

Check it out at http://www.mpsoftware.dk/

[phphp]

notePad suits for all scripts
Editplus

[vaaaska]

Hey guys, I'm looking for a real good editor for PHP and Dalecosp keeps posting secrets all over the place but I still can't see it. Do you know what he's talking about?

;)

[Houdini]

After a little time using HTML Kit I found PHP Designer (http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php) to be quite useful and it handles most all languages besides PHP. It is quite handy when you want to write or debug a short script. Highlighting for all languages that it supports. It has made writing and testing out PHP at least 5 times quicker than saving it to my local webserver and then running it. Plus you can view your page in IE, Fire Fox Netscape or Opera (that is if you have them). It is free and easy to use. Plus it is quite small for all that it does.

[saidbakr]

Hi,
Is there an application better than Macromedia dreamweaver, to make PHP dynamic web page "WYSIG". I mean an application makes stuffs more visually, i.e less hard code.

[Weedpacket]

All "What You See Is What You Get" editors are rubbish for PHP, because All You See Is All You Get, and you don't see PHP.

[gkelley091565]

I love to help code heads out on this topic as I clearly remember going through the exact same decision process and it was not and easy one. The market is flooded; the fact we have so many choices is a good thing don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! But, the time it takes up sifting through the choices can be quite daunting!

So, after many, many

do
{ download; install; evaluate; uninstall; }
until findOneThatWorks = true;

I've found I like to use a combination of Zend Studio. http://www.zend.com/products/zend_studio and jEdit http://www.zend.com/products/zend_studio

Zend Studio is not free but is priced fairly when considering it include the best PHP debugging environment I've ever come across. Price also come with Zend Debug Server which can be installed onto your dev/staging server to allow for remote debugging. Very nice.

jEdit is a mature and well-designed programmer's text editor with 7 years of development behind it. To download, install, and set up jEdit as quickly and painlessly as possible, go to the Quick Start page.

While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

The core of jEdit is primarily developed by Slava Pestov, and jEdit plugins are being written by a diverse team of programmers from around the world.

Some of jEdit's features include:

* Written in Java, so it runs on Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows.
* Built-in macro language; extensible plugin architecture. Dozens of macros and plugins available.
* Plugins can be downloaded and installed from within jEdit using the "plugin manager" feature.
* Auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.
* Supports a large number of character encodings including UTF8 and Unicode.
* Folding for selectively hiding regions of text.
* Word wrap.
* Highly configurable and customizable.
* Every other feature, both basic and advanced, you would expect to find in a text editor. See the Features page for a full list.

Good luck in you research. It is worth taking your time to find the right one as you are very much like the mechanic, carpenter, or machinist choosing on tool brand or another. You may choose to put full faith and comfort in one particular brand or you may find your more comfortable with a "mixed batch" of tools used for varying purposes.

"hammer is to carpenter as editor/ide is to web developer"

Gene Kelley
PHP/MySQL Web Developer
Trak Technologies Corporation
http://www.traktechnologiescorp.com/

[michaewlewis]

I use Notepad++ in Windows, which is definetely a step up from MS Visual C++ html editor. It had good coloring, but Notepad++ beats it with all the extra stuff like the ability to collapse levels of code and the extra language coloring options.

However, in linux, I use Quanta+, which dwarfs Notepad++ in features and usability. Coloring is the same and customizable, but the real kicker is the auto completion of html, javascript, php, and mysql functions and tags (and probably more for other languages). Not only does it offer autocompletion, but it also lets you know what can be called in any recognized tag or function, whether it is a built-in function or a local function.
I think you can get it on sourceforge, if you want to check it out. And best of all, it's free!

[thorpe]

vim (http://www.vim.org/).

[codeordie.com]

PHPEdit is not free.
You need to purchase a license to get it 'free' ehehe

-> "To be able to use it without any time limit you need to purchase a license"

But yes, PHPEdit is the best PHP Editor for me.

[vertmonkee]

I use Crimson Editor which is free.

Has some nice features, colour codes sections etc and does the job fine.

[X.Cyclop]

Windows: Notepad++.
GNU/Linux: gedit / Kate / Kwrite.

:)

[FatStratCat]

I changed my editor. D/L'ed HTML Kit. It has a built in FTP on the right panel, making both up and DLing files so very easy, and it's free.

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

[JLHeidecker]

Zend Studio is not free but is priced fairly when considering it include the best PHP debugging environment I've ever come across. Price also come with Zend Debug Server which can be installed onto your dev/staging server to allow for remote debugging. Very nice.




So how long have you worked for Zend Studios? ;)

[X.Cyclop]

Hi,
Is there an application better than Macromedia dreamweaver, to make PHP dynamic web page "WYSIG". I mean an application makes stuffs more visually, i.e less hard code.
Of course: Zend Studio.

WYSIWYG editor sucks.

[Targash]

If I'm not wrong, PHP Edit is free only during the 30 trial days, but I'm not sure about it.
I use windows and linux by programming. In windows I use PhpED, but I'm looking for an other editor. In linux I use quanta plus, is the best editor of the large amount of editors what I tried.

[halojoy]

PHP Designer
is a very nice Free editor: http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php
:)

[Targash]

Oh yeah!
I've just downloaded and tried PHP Designer and it liked to me. It remembers me an HTML Editor which I used to use by programming (HTML GATE FREE), however, I think that PHP Designer is so better.

[pohopo]

I tried PHP Designer and it did not do it for me. I went back to PHP Eclipse.

[zabmilenko]

"Best" is perspective.

For fast, quick edits, I like Notepad++ (free and solid, thin)
For big projects, I use PHPEclipse on Eclipse (free and almost solid, very thick)

If you have a bunch of cash, Zend Studio is nice but a bit clunky.


Why? Well, because development teams I have been on have recommended many, and I have found reasons to uninstall all of them except these two. Once again, though, it was a perspective thing, not because there was anything really wrong with other platforms.

[greenie2600]

I've used Homesite, Eclipse, and (briefly) Zend Studio.

Homesite is nice and lightweight, but fairly basic - good for small- to medium-sized sites.

I found Zend Studio to be pretty clunky. I still want to play around with it some more, just to see if it grows on me, but so far, it's been a big waste of $99.

Eclipse is Just Right. If you check it out, look for the ESftp plugin as well - makes it easier to shuttle files back and forth between the live server and localhost.

[lusun]

I find PHP Designer really useful.
Recommend.

[michaewlewis]

Has anyone tried Microsoft WebDev Express?

[Weedpacket]

Has anyone tried Microsoft WebDev Express?If you mean the cut-down thing from Visual Studio, I'm using it now. Though not for PHP, oddly enough....

[ddrfreek]

I've just been using basic notepad to edit and create all of my files, but I find it annoying to pinpoint what line my error is on when the server reads out a parse error or something like that. Are there any (free) programs that you guys use that you think might be better?

[NogDog]

I use HTML-Kit (http://www.chami.com/html-kit/). I'm not claiming it's the best, just that it's what I'm used to (and the price is right: free).

[ddrfreek]

Hmm..looks interesting. Does it count rows?

[bradgrafelman]

I find it annoying to pinpoint what line my error is on Well, PHP tells you what line number it thinks the error is on, so I don't see what's wrong with using Notepad to edit PHP source. Then again, I've replaced notepad.exe on my computer with Notepad2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad2), but still...

[BlackList]

I dont know of any free, I use Dreamweaver but its smart that you learned on Notepad. You will be all the wiser later on.

[bradgrafelman]

By the way, did you try searching the board before posting this topic? It's been covered very extensively *countless* times before:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10333771
http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10298694
http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10209798
etc.

[NogDog]

Hmm..looks interesting. Does it count rows?
It shows line numbers in the left margin, if that's what you mean.

[ddrfreek]

By the way, did you try searching the board before posting this topic? It's been covered very extensively *countless* times before:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10333771
http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10298694
http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10209798
etc.Sorry, I didn't think to check the echo lounge.

[dougal85]

PHP Designer
is a very nice Free editor: http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php
:)

Free? doesnt seem to be. :-/

[rincewind456]

There is a Free personal version!

[IBMJohn]

I use Komodo for PHP, Perl, and HTML.

[cyberlew15]

Well I have already posted my PHP editor of choice somewhere But for your AJAX, CSS, (x)HTML etc needs Try APTANA, its free and very feature rich, and tells you which browsers code works in

[dougal85]

Wow, sounds cool. Thanks for the tip... i'm downloading it now. :)

The fact that its got an eclipse plug-in version is a bonus too.

[rodneykm]

I've never understood why anyone would *want* to use notepad over even a basic editor that has syntax highlighting. It's just much easier to read.

[leatherback]

I've never understood why anyone would *want* to use notepad over even a basic editor that has syntax highlighting. It's just much easier to read.

Yeah, agreed. I use notepad++ for the highlighting

[SuPerNoVi]

I use Dreamweaver myself

[Horizon88]

vim (http://www.vim.org/).
^ truth.

[hezll]

phpedit it's very good ,intellgence aoto complete,code hylightling ,integrated debugging. and the best reason :FTP server ,i can use it for FTP server source code development in any where

[rincewind456]

phpedit it's very good ,intellgence aoto complete,code hylightling ,integrated debugging. and the best reason :FTP server ,i can use it for FTP server source code development in any where
Hopefully it does spell checking as well. :D

[mvhemanth]

Trillian Codepad is NOT FREE
after download it is a 15 day trial

deceptive advertising

[phpnewbiedublin]

i use phpdesigner2008 its great prints out colour code, tests on localhost and can view output with out having to open ie has php manual installed great for a mature student. Can be used for other languages as well. TextPad is great as well for cold coding

[bateman]

I tend to like AceHTML. I've used it since it was free (1998 I think) It comes with the ability to use a php parser, has a spell check, some basic scripts, and best of all, highlight and syntax checking. Internal browser for html and java but will work if you have the parser running with php.

Downside It cost $75 USD for the pro version. There is a free version but it only has very (VERY) basic functions.

[Warmaster]

A great all around package for HTML/CSS/PHP and many useful plug-ins to add many other features to this already great package. Best of all it is free.

[NogDog]

A great all around package for HTML/CSS/PHP and many useful plug-ins to add many other features to this already great package. Best of all it is free.
I use PHPDesigner now, but I still keep HTML-Kit around for when I need to do complex multi-line search/replace operations that I can't do in PHPD. While not free, its additional features made the upgrade to PHPDesigner from HTML-Kit worth it to me.

[Warmaster]

Yeah it seems PHPDesigner is the IDE of choice, but I can't justify spending money on a IDE right now when I am just beginning to scratch the surface of the language. I like PHP a lot, and this is essentially my first programming language aside form very basic VB many years ago. I just don't have the experience to justify $80.00 for something I don't know how to use to its full advantage right now.

[NogDog]

HTML-Kit does a lot for you. The main reason I started looking around was that it (at least the free version) does not support PHP 5 in its syntax highlighting, and then things like PHPD's realtime syntax checking got me hooked. But HTML-Kit is still a helluvalot better than Notepad. :)

[Warmaster]

hmmm, I do like the idea of realtime syntax checking...maybe when I learn this a little better :)

[bpat1434]

EditPlus, with the correct user-tools set up has a syntax checker (using CLI version of PHP), Diff Viewer (with BeyondCompare from Scooter Software) and whatever else you need (HTML validator, CSS validator). Up to 10 groups of commands, each group containing an unknown amount of commands.

prints out colour code
Any editor can do that, if you set the preferences up right.

I'll still back up EditPlus and Zend Studio. I do all my work with them. I do have DW, e-texteditor, and a few others, but none get as much use as Zend and EditPlus.

[luqman93]

I have a dual-boot system : Windows XP Professional ( Never give in to the suckish Vista) and Ubuntu ( The greatest OS ever!! ).

XP = Crimson Editor ( IT ROCKS!!)

ubuntu = Gedit (Not great but better than noted pad :) ) , VI , Nano

[paul.mac]

I like bateman used AceHTML through versions 3, 4, 5 and 6 - but version 6 was so buggy that I went back to V5 for quiet along while after purchasing V6. However, I was forced to use V6 after a windows XP update meant that V5 stopped working. However more recently I have switched to RapidPHP 2008 from http://www.blumentals.net/rapidphp/ and whilst it doesn't have the right click functionality of AceHTML I find that I'm using it all the time now and AceHTML rarely gets a look in.

paul.mac

[h4x0rmx]

I tried Zend Studio about two years ago and I loved it. The color highlighting was great, and it also had auto completion even for the functions/classes that you made yourself. It was capable of remembering the name of your variables and it helped you with the sintaxis of the php functions. It is now too expensive for my budget and I don't know what improvements it has made... does anyone use it?

I'm currently using PSPad and its pretty good. It's free and highly customizable.

I also like Dreamweaver, but I use it mostly for the design part, not when I'm coding on php.

[bpat1434]

The newest studio runs on the Eclipse platform. It's got Zend Framework integrated directly into it for type hinting.

I think it's worth the $200; however, Aptana seems to be a less-costly alternative to Zend Studio and is built upon Eclipse as well.

Most good IDEs will automatically do everything you described. Even some text editors (Notepad++, EditPlus) will do syntax highlighting and if given proper code, some code insight ;)

There are other good IDEs including NuSphere PhpIDE, ActiveState Komodo, MPSOFTWARE's PHPDesigner, Waterproof's PHPEdit, and Blumental's WeBuilder 2008 or RapidPHP 2008.

[h4x0rmx]

I gotta do some research and try some IDEs then, as you can see I've been away from the php world for a while.

[schwim]

What a fantastic read. From those that prefer to etch their code in stone tablets with nothing more than a sharpened stone to those that would like their editor to wipe their backside.

Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread over the years.

[NogDog]

Another IDE option to look at is NetBeans PHP (http://www.netbeans.org/features/php/). I'm not going to say it's better or worse than any of the others mentioned here; just that it's worth a look, too.

[kostis12345]

I'm using windows and phpDesigner 2008 professional

[NogDog]

Another IDE option to look at is NetBeans PHP (http://www.netbeans.org/features/php/). I'm not going to say it's better or worse than any of the others mentioned here; just that it's worth a look, too.

This tip might be of use to those trying out NetBeans: http://www.charles-reace.com/blog/2009/04/05/netbeans-opening-a-non-project-file/