By azote on

hey guys I want to know what can I use to develop and debug PHP so can do my drupal modules without struggling.
Can you set drupal as debug mode?
what tools can I use do you Write and debug php code? or to manage your database? (could be linux or win32)
I could be to php in general .... i been using Notepad++ (win) and vim (linux) but i would like to know how you guys debug (i use echo's or print) i want to be able to follow the code like in .net env.
any sugustions or anything related let me know! i need your help.
thanks!

Comments

canen’s picture

canen commented

Eclipse + PHPEclipse seems like a good choice, I've heard good things about it. I don' t use it myself, running linux on PPC.

tostinni’s picture

tostinni commented

I use it since 1 year and appreciate it a lot. It has all sort of feature very usefull (autocompletion, doxygen help, cvs...)
I just regret that sometime it's a little slow (java built...)

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

on windows/linux I use jEdit (http://www.jedit.org/). It's one of the few things that meets one of my key requirements, sFTP support. That way, I can just browse the remote projects rather than having to keep a local copy on my machine. The big downside is that it's ugly...

Most of the time I'm on a mac and use skEdit (http://www.skti.org/skEdit.php). Also sFTP support and much prettier :)

I've never been able to get used to a full IDE, I just find it too cluttered and not really worth the hassle.

javanaut’s picture

javanaut commented

I use jEdit for the same reasons (sftp)

budda’s picture

budda
Primary language English
Location Cheshire
commented

I use Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) on Windows to edit the source via samba which is sitting on my Linux dev server.

The editor is simple, but effective and looks nice too.

As for debugging, i stick to traditional var_dump() calls. I guess i really should get out of that habit sometime!!

I did look at the PHP XDebug extension a while back but lost interest in using it for some reason.

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Ixis (UK): Drupal support, Drupal hosting.

benshell’s picture

benshell commented

I use Dreamweaver MX on Windows, with Apache/PHP/MySQL. Dreamweaver can be setup to recognize .theme and .module files as PHP files. I also use an old freeware version of MySQL-Front for database editing (which crashes often -- any better cheap or free MySQL editors out there?).

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

You can find some useful tools on the mySQL site at http://www.mysql.com/products/tools/.
The mySQL Query browser is useful for loading database files, editing tables and trying out SQL syntax.
The mySQL Administrator can also be useful.
And the cost, free.

PurpleEdge’s picture

PurpleEdge commented

EMS MySQL manager is an excellent myySQL tool and the lite version is free.

supriyadisw’s picture

supriyadisw commented

How to setup Dreamweaver to recognize .theme and .module files as PHP files? Thank before

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me, sUpriyadisw

benshell’s picture

benshell commented

Here are the instructions:

http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_16410

Just add theme and module as alternate extensions for PHP.

supriyadisw’s picture

supriyadisw commented

Thank You very much (^ ^,)

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me, sUpriyadisw

kbahey’s picture

kbahey commented

I develop on Linux because I am comfortable in this environment having been a UNIX head for almost 2 decades.

I use vim, since it is a better vi.

I changed a few settings to treat .module, .theme, .inc as php and hence I get the syntax highlighting.

I heard that Zend IDE has nice features, including a nice debugger, but it costs money, unlike Eclipse.

On the other hand, there is a project underway to add a debugger to PHPeclipse.

Both Eclipse and Zend are written in Java though, and hence can be slow and memory hungry, specially on older machines...

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Personal: Baheyeldin.com

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azote’s picture

azote commented

thanks.... man... i just downloaded the Zend Studio 5.0 BETA and I have never seen a program install and run so great on my gentoo laptop!! and everything works!!

I already had apache and mysql installed on it...

the install went great ... i installed the client (for dev) and the server part (to be able to debug)

the debuger works great ... i click on firefox and the thing tracks the code and variables !! ( just like the crappy .Net thing tries to do it.)

i'm thinking on getting the student version....

i have only used it for 3 hours.. and comming from vim this is the best thing that happend to me since .... uhm... 3 hours ago...
to bad that is $99 bucks

freyquency’s picture

freyquency commented

I've used jEdit before and it's pretty good. I use Quanta+ on my linux machine and it's pretty much the best thing ever.

PurpleEdge’s picture

PurpleEdge commented

WeBuilder is a great tool for PHP/HTML/CSS editing - very reasonably priced, and lightweight in terms of resource usage compared to Dreamweaver for instance [g]

Hosting Geek’s picture

Hosting Geek commented

I would recommend to try screem it uses GTKSourceView for synax highlighting and supports auto-competion.

cvining’s picture

cvining commented

Any updates to this thread?

I'm one of those text editor + ftp types, but am now looking for a PHP Editor/FTP integrated dev. env. (IDE). Preferably free, or inexpensive. For light drupal module development, theme editing & such.

What to people like today?

Thx for all ideas!

- Cronin

Liberation’s picture

Liberation commented

I find BeyondCompare very useful. It allows you to compare a local directory tree with a remote one over FTP, and easily synchronize the two: more at http://www.scootersoftware.com/ .

For development, I use Eclipse + PHP plugin. I need to put all my stuff under SubVersion as well.

marcor’s picture

marcor commented

Is there any tool that has a built in Drupal mode? Or has anyone started to setup one?
I mean features like auto-completition for Drupal commands and standardized formatting (first tries see Drupal Coding Standards)? Still I'm not familiar with all of Drupals possibilities, it would be a great help to get to know them.

Until then, Quanta+ is the IDE I use, I like the PHP syntax highlighting and HTML and CSS auto-completition very much.

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

Eclipse can be configured to work with doxygen, the end-result being documented drupal functions and auto-completion.
Doxygen support for eclipse: http://home.gna.org/eclox/
how to have eclipse use drupal coding standards: http://drupal.org/node/75242

Eric Cosky’s picture

Eric Cosky commented

Having a truly capable debugger is a way to multiply your productivity. I've used an earlier version Zend, and it's fantastic. If I were to get serious about PHP again I would buy a current version without hesitation (my version is so old it's not compatible with the current PHP).

BioALIEN’s picture

BioALIEN commented

Thank you for this tip, I have been looking to do this for a year!

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BioALIEN
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farik@adwright.com.sg’s picture

farik@adwright.com.sg commented

Yeah i do agree, this is really helpful for me too! Thanks!

Farik Osman
Ad.WRIGHT Communications

kbahey’s picture

kbahey commented

I still use vim a lot, but also use Quanta Plus, a web development IDE for the KDE desktop environment.

vim works well with xdebug for debugging. Check 2bits.com (under articles) for a download of the debugging script, and an article on how to setup xdebug.

Quanta does support xdebug, but the current version (latest on Kubuntu 6.10) crashes after it finishes debugging a file.

ActiveState has a nice IDE called Komodo with debugging capabilities too, and it is quite snappy even on old Pentium 3 machines. Remote debugging is said to work in version 4.0, but I could not get the beta to do the URI mapping so far.
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aac’s picture

aac commented

Subscribing!!

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aac