Software to write php in

[Sarah Atkinson]

Do any of you use special software to write your PHP?
Does your software help find errors?
How does it help you.

[ergophobe]

Many choices and many long threads have been generated on the topic.

this google search [google.com] will find many of them.

In no particular order, I think the key features that reduce errors or help you find them are

- line numbering - for finding them from PHP error messages.

- brace and parenthesis matching - help you see clearly when you have unmatched braces or parentheses.

- syntax highlighting - helps quickly see unmatched quotes and things

- code completion - helps reduce the number of errors caused by typos

Then, of course, within PHP itself, make sure that you always develop your scripts with error_reporting set to E_ALL in your php.ini file.

Some IDEs have built-in debuggers, which can be a big help too.

[ramoneguru]

Notepad. Makes me actually go through and read what I wrote. Also helps me comment.
--Nick

[Sarah Atkinson]

I've been using the trial version of EnginSite Editor for PHP. Havn't yet made my mind up on it. I tried expert edito, DZsoft, and NUShere. but i couldn't get DZsoft to run nor could i get expert editor so i just set them aside and NuShere seemed a bit overwhelming.

I haven't seen anything on Enginsite on any of the other postings unless maybe they changed the name with a newer version.

[crashomon]

textpad is a program that I use. along with dreamweaver, but textpad is good for starters and lower budgets.

[kazecoder]

I use notepad and thats about it.

[ironik]

I use notepad when I'm on the move, and Zend Studio for debugging later on. I've tried a few free IDE's (Such as PHP Designer 2005), but something like Zend is worth shelling out the extra cash for and as far as commercial applications go its very cheap.

For me, I wanted something that supported breakpoints and watches, and the custom code completion is pretty cool. Supports php4 + php5 with a code analyzer so you can optimise and secure your code better.

I could sing it's praises all day, but in reality I do most of my work on notepad. All it boils down to is that PHP IDE's just reduce your development time (especially for debugging).

[dreamcatcher]

There are a number of excellent text editors available, some of them free some of them not. Its really a case of finding the right one for you. I use conText for all my PHP coding. I`ve tried numerous other ones, but conText`s simplicity is what I like.

As ergophobe mentioned, syntax highlighting is invaluable. Once you get used to your text environment, you`ll find that you can spot errors because of the colour coding. It even works for a colour blind person like me. :-P

Coding templates are also useful. If you use a piece of code over and over, you can store it in the program and recall it with a couple of clicks. Saves lots of time.

Follow the link ergophobe provided and download some. jEdit is a really nice one. Crimson Editor too.

Good luck.

[henry0]

I use mostly UltraEdit it does it all w/out auto completion.
If you want to spend more Zend carries a very good PHP editor.
But if you have installed on your local machine RedHat9 or some similar distro
You may use a great editor that comes bundled in: Quanta.

[philbish]

I'm using Smultron on the Mac. Has nice color coding, line numbers, etc.

[twist]

I use Dreamweaver 7, it comes with Secure FTP and I like the fact that it saves all files locally. I've never used the WYSIWYG editor so I don't know how well that works.

I would make the move to HTML-Kit if it was open-source. It's free but they could always make the decision to charge. It comes with built in FTP and is pretty nice overall.

If your just looking for a text editor without FTP, FileZilla is a good open-source FTP.

I wouldn't recommend using notepad. Try using 'view source' on your webpage using notepad, then try it using firefox. It's just so much easier with color coding.

[methodman]

i use winsyntax...
it has color highlight and brace displaying (helpful!)

itsl ike 100kb and its free.

[paybacksa]

Someone said Zend is cheap? When you look at the details it's $1000/year for the Zend IDO and debugger.

Maybe you are thinking about student version of the "small business starter" where you have to sign an agreement that you don't gross more than 250k/year and they can audit your books on demand?

Hook-ware. No thanks.

[SeanW]

vi

Small, fast, syntax highlighting, and on every unix system on the planet.

Sean

[paybacksa]

"Where I work" the favs are VIM, UltraEdit and TextPad.

[killroy]

It's been EditPad for me for a looong time now, I feel lost without it. And hte new regex search and replace is an absolute boon!

SN

[craig1972]

I'll second the vote for UltraEdit.

I've been through Notepad 2 (which adds a good set of functionality for Notepad, with minimal footprint), TextPad, EditPad, and most recently, PS Pad.

Macromedia's Homesite used to be great but they simply have not kept up, I guess they're now focusing on Dreamweaver. I would use DW if it could load up faster and not crash.

Well, one way or another, I keep coming back to UltraEdit for the stability and features with minimal memory footprint.

[sgaze]

I use EditPlus for PHP but also for vbs, js, ASP and SQL.

Color syntax, completion, search with regexp, macro...