Posted by Mike Russell on 03/04/07 22:21

"David Smithz" <dave1900@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:UgzGh.12462$I46.5442@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Hi there,
>
> I have been using Dreamweaver 7 (2004 MX) for the editing of my PHP code.
> I have heard that Dreamweaver 8 sis better for code but there are lots of
> other negative things I have read which put me off.

I have DW8 and although it's good for integrating scripts with the web page,
and can do syntax highlighting, but no syntax checking or debugging.

> Is there a recommended editor out there that allows me to edit my code
> much like one can in visual studio. Might not be as comprehensive as VS
> but anything similar would be a bonus

I evaluated several freeware PHP IDE's last week, and Eclipse was my choice.
I'm familiar with Visual Studio, and it is in the same league. The syntax
checking and debug support are good. It will work with XDebug either
remotely, or locally with your own PHP install, but this is not necessary if
all you want is the syntax checking.

I did not check out all of the available IDE's. I also looked at PHPEdit,
tsWebEditor, Light PHP Edit, and devPHP. I advise you to check each one out
for 30 minutes or so. You may find you like the simplicity of one of these
better than Eclipse, particularly if you are not interested in XDebug.

Eclipse PHP Project (PDT)
http://www.eclipse.org/php

Bug 169408 - Support for XDebug:
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=169408
(XDebug took me two days to set up. If you do this, be sure to locate the
pdf with detailed install instructions)

Many thanks to Iciban, who first supplied me with these links.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

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