PHP editors

[ckchin]

Previously I did read a thread discussing the php editors, and i just tried to serach the thread but failed to do so (or maybe I missed it somewhere). Hence I start a thread seeeking information regarding the PHP editors used by most of the PHP developers.

I did come across the The Zend Studio 2.0 at http://www.zend.com, and would like to have a try on it. Currently, I am using the EditPlus which is excellent for me. Have you tried the The Zend Studio 2.0 before? Is it good? I read an article saying that i run on JVM (Java) which is slow in speed compared to windows application. BUT, I found that the The Zend Studio 2.0 has the windows version!

[scoates]

I have a licensed copy of Zend Studio 2.0 and don't use it.

Cheap text editors are more powerful, IMHO.

It has some nice features (debugger, project management), but working with Java widgets on Win32 is akin to chinese water torture.

S

[ALSLG]

I don't consider myself as a PHP developer (I'm a wannabe), but the editor I use is really nice and it's cheap: free!

It has color coding and you can add some plugins for different programming language (php, asp, etc) among other things.

HTML-Kit

For the money you pay, it's the best you can get IMHO

Michel
ALSLG

[FrankieShakes]

I've been looking for an IDE tool for PHP... I use NetBeans IDE for Java, but I haven't been able to find anything for PHP.

Currently, I use a free editor, HTML Editor, which has color-highlighting (an excellent feature).

The developer is also very responsive and releases updates on a regular basis.

http://www.lz1.co.uk/editor.html


...Frank

[i_like_php]

i use note pad

[Aes]

NotePad is quite nice, isn't it?

-Colin

[Maelstrom]

haha...I use homesite. The reason. Colours. I don't use any other features except the colours. haha

[Mark T.]

Another vote for Homesite from me .

[MaRkY]

UltraEdit the best

[Richi]

yes UltraEdit the best , it`s like notepad, don`t take alot of system memory at all, it`s really the best , i tryed more than 10 editor for php editing ..

UltraEdit the best ...

[QuaffAPint]

I third UltraEdit...

Just make sure you download the PHP wordfile from project php4ue...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/php4ue/

-QuaffAPint

[TheOriginalH]

Sigh, say it once say it a thousand times.....

phpED Which is available free here or (a later version) for $299 here

[Klav]

I use MetaPad. It's basically the same as NotePad except a few more features and no 60k file limit. The link: http://liquidninja.com/metapad/

[scoates]

Notepad?
Ok. I understand (to a point), but really, you're being unproductive.

Here are a few bad things re:Notepad that pop into my mind:
-It doesn't keep indents.
-Doesn't allow you to see line numbers.
-60/64k/whateverk file size limit.
-Tabs are tabs. They're always tabs. They're always the same width (8 chars?).
-Can't spot syntax errors by colour.
-Can't Indent/Out-dent whole code blocks at a time.
-Find and replace SUCKS.

I would never let my co-workers (if they were working under me) use notepad full-time. We don't have that kind of time to waste.

I haven't found the perfect editor. AFAIK, it doesn't exist. But there are much better alternatives to Notepad (and some of them have been mentioned in this thread).

S

[Chris82]

Hi!

I use jedit (jedit.org) a Java Based Text Editor. It has some nice features, like reformatting whole code (parts) with a click, regexp searching. Syntax Highlighting for PHP files and html tags therein.
There's also one sometimes annoying feature that closes html tags.
If you type <table and then press ">" the editor would add </table>.

However, it is a more multi-purpose editor and has its strengths mostly when editing Java files.

Sometimes i also use PHP Coder Pro (phpide.de) which sometimes behaves rather strangely. (Selections and indents do not work properly)

A feature I would love in an editor is some kind of class control.
Example: I have a class with its function. I set a marker on the line where the class definition begins and if I rename, modify (whatever) the class the editor will update pages where the class is used.

BTW speaking of editors:
Do you think a multi-purpose editor (ie for several languages) or an editor specifically designed for one language is better?

[Eric.Coleman]

I vote for PHP Coder Pro..

But make sure you click on the Download link on there main page, (not the one in the menu)

After they merged with Magmua, I think there app went downhill....

[PlayOn]

Notepad all the way. Simplar is better. The file size limit is about the only restriction, but if you try to be conservative and include more files (means of splitting up the files instead of one big one), it works out just fine. I had this CGI chat program I editted once and the memory ran out, that really sucked since I am not an expert with CGI. I might download this metapad, sounds useful.

[PlayOn]

Originally posted by scoates
Notepad?
Ok. I understand (to a point), but really, you're being unproductive.

Here are a few bad things re:Notepad that pop into my mind:
-It doesn't keep indents.
-Doesn't allow you to see line numbers.
-60/64k/whateverk file size limit.
-Tabs are tabs. They're always tabs. They're always the same width (8 chars?).
-Can't spot syntax errors by colour.
-Can't Indent/Out-dent whole code blocks at a time.
[B]-Find and replace SUCKS.[\B]

I would never let my co-workers (if they were working under me) use notepad full-time. We don't have that kind of time to waste.

I haven't found the perfect editor. AFAIK, it doesn't exist. But there are much better alternatives to Notepad (and some of them have been mentioned in this thread).

S

Not quite sure what you mean as find and replace, but this method works for me. Ctrl + C to copy the text, the run the search program. Click the notepad title bar, then hit F3 and it goes to the searched text. Then hit Ctrl + V. Repeating F3 and Paste is pretty easy and timeless. I've editted a complete index of like 300 links in just a few minutes. If you know of any program that does it instantly let me know.

[Klav]

Originally posted by Klav
I use MetaPad. It's basically the same as NotePad except a few more features and no 60k file limit. The link: http://liquidninja.com/metapad/

I forgot to mention that it is only a 41kb download.

[redemption]

Originally posted by scoates
akin to chinese water torture.

what's water torture gotta do with the chinese?

EditPlus is a very good text-editor... low memory footprint... much better than Notepad IMHO

[voostind]

Just to make the conversation a bit more 'interesting', I'll name another one:

NEdit!

http://www.nedit.org

But then, of course, you need a Unix machine to run it...

Oh, and to those Notepad users: the ONLY reason you're using it, is because you've never tried anything else, am I right? (Because if you do - like UltraEdit for Windows / NEdit for Unix - you won't believe your own stupidity. Scoates is absolutely right in this.)

Vincent

[gcarlyle]

I'm for HTML-Kit. The color coding is great as is the find and replace. Highlight the text you want to find open find, the highlighted text is auto entered click the replace tab type in what you want to replace and within seconds it's done.

PHP plugin has everything you need as far as tags go.
100's of plugins for other languages JAVA, HTML, ASP, XML.
You name it there is a plugin for it.

One feature I really enjoy is the un-do after save.

Has a spell check and thesaurus and many other great tools.
And as was stated previously it's free, fast and easy to use check it out.

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

GC

[someonewhois]

Originally posted by redemption

what's water torture gotta do with the chinese?

EditPlus is a very good text-editor... low memory footprint... much better than Notepad IMHO

I use notepad, and I use editplus on teh trial for now!

(I'm glad it was said, becuase if I had have posted a link, my post would have been edited liek before.. )

[laidbak]

Originally posted by PlayOn


Not quite sure what you mean as find and replace, but this method works for me. Ctrl + C to copy the text, the run the search program. Click the notepad title bar, then hit F3 and it goes to the searched text. Then hit Ctrl + V. Repeating F3 and Paste is pretty easy and timeless. I've editted a complete index of like 300 links in just a few minutes. If you know of any program that does it instantly let me know.

I believe what he means is that in apps such as ultraedit, Find and Replace is pretty much instant.
Have you ever tried to use search & replace in notepad on 3000 words... If you have some time to WASTE, try it sometime.

Also, ultraedit does regular expressions in search & replace, very powerful, very useful... you will see what is meant when you need this feature... obviously you have not needed to do anything this complex yet.
It does replace across multiple files at once, and it can open huge files without choking your system. can you open a 1GB file in notepad? I know you are thinking what is the use in that??? Ever work with flat file databases??

I won't even go into macros... that is self explanitory.

Ultraedit can save backups, and we all know how much of a life saver that can be.

You can setup projects and run external compilers or other shell programs right from the editor.

Come on now, do you really think notepad is production quality... Yeah, when I first started I would brag that I could write web pages in notepad... I was like 16 then, now at 24, there are a lot of productivity issues concerning using the right tools, aside from bragging rights.

-Laidbak

[Imex]

*cough* HOMESITE

Still havent found anything better.