I am fairly new to PHP and its various resources, so apologies if my question/references has not been wording correctly.
Whilst following various YouTube tutorials on PHP Coding for WordPress, I have noticed that many coders are able to automatically generate available Parameters within their strings/arrays etc. I use Notepad++ and as far as I can see, this is the chosen programme within many of these YouTube Tutorials. Is there an extension, within Notepad++, for this or do they use a completely different programme?
Proper Answer is that you are looking for auto completion and linting and there are millions of tools for the job.
If anything I would suggest Sublime, Atom or Visual Studio Code. All are free.
However the likes of PHPStorm can give help you out if you are very new to the language with its completion.
It's not free but you can play with it for 30 days and student offers are good.
Notepad++ is an option too but, its limited.
You can use Sublime Text which is used for PHP
I know that it is possible to use Ctrl+] to jump to a definition in Vim and this can work in conjunction whith either ctags or Cscope. I am looking for a more accurate alternative to both ctags and Cscope when working PHP. Sometimes there are multiple possible results to choose from or false positives. I only want to jump to the actual definition of whatever is under the cursor. Ideally this should work for variables, functions, constants, and classes.
I don't see why this can't be done by analyzing the files. I have finally overcome just about every other annoyance/misunderstanding I have with Vim by learning and customizing, so if I could nail this one it would be awesome.
Also, do other's agree that Cscope and ctags are not accurate enough for PHP or am I doing something wrong?
UPDATE
4 years later, I am still using Vim with PHP, and still having this problem. I have tried eclim, ctags, exubarant-ctags, universal-ctags, and cscope. I have tried passing various arguments to these programs to get them to generate better tags. The experience is very poor for all of these options.
But I understand the problem much better now. There might be nothing wrong with the tags generated by these programs. The problem seems to be that when you press Ctrl + ] in Vim or Neovim, it just looks for a tag by that name. It is not looking at the context of the file you are editing to see which tag by that name it should use. It does not even understand what language you are editing, and look for tags from code in that language.
Is there a way to make vim search through the tags file more intelligently, based on the context, and then jump to the most likely location? You know, like what would happen inside a good IDE?
As a C++ developer I had similar issues for a long time. Until, that is, I reorganized my approach to using tag files under Vim a few years ago. The trick that made it work for me was to generate separate tag files for different slices of code: my project, various external code libraries, etc... I then had to set the 'tags' option to look for the files in a priority order, with my local code project files coming first and then working outward from there with the system header files being LAST.
In my case, I had separate tag files for each of these and listed in this order in the 'tags' option:
My local project
Any other project that this project uses
System-bundled libraries (boost)
System-bundled libraries (WxWidgets)
System libraries (C++ standard libraries)
System libraries (all else)
I'm not a PHP developer, but again the main mistake I made for a long time was just generating a single tags file FOR EVERYTHING. I'd have upwards of 30 tags to search through many times (using the :tag command). If you generate multiple tags files you have much more control over the search order of tags and thus what tags in which files are found.
See if that works for you. It did for me.
To improve ctags for PHP, you could create tags file like this:
#!/bin/bash
cd /path/to/framework/library
exec ctags-exuberant -f ~/.vim/mytags/framework \
-h ".php" -R \
--exclude="\.svn" \
--totals=yes \
--tag-relative=yes \
--PHP-kinds=+cf \
--regex-PHP='/abstract class ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/interface ([^ ]*)/\1/c/' \
--regex-PHP='/(public |static |abstract |protected |private )+function ([^ (]*)/\2/f/'
then load the tags
:set tags=~/.vim/mytags/framework
taken from my blog post
You may also wanna take a look at eclim.
This could utilize eclipse's completion feature, and it should work fine for PHP (I haven't tried).
Struggled with the same problem for a long time until I found the LanguageServer for PHP.
It provides features like GoToDefinition, ShowReferences, Tags at current document etc. It is integrating okay with fzf right out of the box.
Things I don't like about it:
autocompletion is slow compared to other frameworks like padawan
it doesn't cache (yet) your project's index, which means, it has to reindex when you open neovim. Nevertheless, you can use the GoToDefinition functionality while it's still indexing.
Quick setup for vim-plug:
Plug 'autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim', { 'do': ':UpdateRemotePlugins' }
Plug 'roxma/LanguageServer-php-neovim', {'do': 'composer install && composer run-script parse-stubs'}
autocmd FileType php LanguageClientStart
nnoremap <silent> gd :call LanguageClient_textDocument_definition()<CR>
nnoremap <silent> gr :call LanguageClient_textDocument_references()<CR>
Best solution I've found so far.
More of a workaround, but if you press g CTRL+[ instead of just CTRL+', you get a list of all the tags of that name, and you can select which one to jump to.
PHP is not a well designed language, and it is not statically typed. As such, the foundation is just not there for any good tools of this kind to be made that would be practical to use in real world projects. IDEs, language servers, and Vim and Neovim plugins can only know as much about the code as the language allows. It is possible to write very consistent code in PHP with as much types as possible and that only utilizes a limited subset of the language, such that tools could understand it. However if your team is capable of writing that good of PHP code, they are good enough to rewrite the code in a more well designed language that can support even better tooling, something like Kotlin which also has great IDE support.
Is there a addon where let say I want to see the origin/stack/trace of a variable I can do so?
I primarily want to see where variables are coming from, what classes and files they go through.
If there is another editor that does this well Ill take suggestions as well!
Thanks.
I don't think TextMate is able to do that, with or without a plugin.
-- START EDIT --
When I was still using it and I wanted to see (and possibly jump to) where a method or property came from I just used Search in Project.
-- END EDIT --
Vim in conjunction with ctags and cscope can help you jump from instance to prototype and vice-versa — wether it's in the current file or not — with <C-]> (or <C-$> on my french Mac keyboard); with TagList or TagBar you can see the structure of your code… but none of this can give you the clean overview you are looking for. But there is probably a plugin for that.
But if that kind of features is important for you it is typically a good reason to use an IDE instead of a text editor. In Eclipse, for example, you have a Type Hierarchy view that does most of what you want and possibly other tools to do the rest. I haven't tried every single IDE under the sun but I think a similar or more powerful feature exists in all of them.
Maybe in Emacs…
I am going to start working on a website that has already been built by someone else.
The main script was bought and then adjusted by the lead programmer. The lead has left and I am the only programmer.
Never met the lead and there are no papers, documentation or comments in the code to help me out, also there are many functions with single letter names. There are also parts of the code that are all compressed in one line (like where there should be 200 lines there is one).
There are a few hundred files.
My questions are:
Does anyone have any advice on how to understand this system?
Has anyone had any similar experiences?
Does anyone have a quick way of decompressing the lines?
Please help me out here. This is my first big break and I really want this to work out well.
Thanks
EDIT:
On regards to the question:
- Does anyone have a quick way of decompressing the lines?
I just used notepad++ (extended replace) and netbeans (the format option) to change a file from 1696 lines to 5584!!
This is going to be a loooonnngggg project
For reformatting the source, try this online pretty-printer: http://www.prettyprinter.de/
For understanding the HTML and CSS, use Firebug.
For understanding the PHP code, step through it in a debugger. (I can't personally recommend a PHP debugger, but I've heard good things about Komodo.)
Start by checking the whole thing into source control, if you haven't already, and then as you work out what the various functions and variables do, rename them to something sensible and check in your changes.
If you can cobble together some rough regression tests (eg. with Selenium) before you start then you can be reasonably sure you aren't breaking anything as you go.
Ouch! I feel your pain!
A few things to get started:
If you're not using source control, don't do anything else until you get that set up. As you hack away at the files, you need to be able to revert to previous, presumably-working versions. Which source-control system you use isn't as important as using one. Subversion is easy and widely used.
Get an editor with a good PHP syntax highlighter and code folder. Which one is largely down to platform and personal taste; I like JEdit and Notepad++. These will help you navigate the code within a page. JEdit's folder is the best around. Notepad++ has a cool feature that when you highlight a word it highlights the other occurrences in the same file, so you can easily see e.g. where a tag begins, or where a variable is used.
Unwind those long lines by search-and-replace ';' with ';\n' -- at least you'll get every statement on a line of its own. The pretty-printer mentioned above will do the same plus indent. But I find that going in and indenting the code manually is a nice way to start to get familiar with it.
Analyze the website's major use cases and trace each one. If you're a front-end guy, this might be easier if you start from the front-end and work your way back to the DB; if you're a back-end guy, start with the DB and see what talks to it, and then how that's used to render pages -- either way works. Use FireBug in Firefox to inspect e.g. forms to see what names the fields take and what page they post to. Look at the PHP page to see what happens next. Use some echo() statements to print out the values of variables at various places. Finally, crack open the DB and get familiar with its schema.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Good luck!
Could you get a copy of the original script version which was bought? It might be that that is documented. You could then use a comparison tool like Beyond Compare in order to extract any modifications that have been made.
If the functions names are only one letter it could be that the code is encoded with some kind of tool (I think Zend had a tool like that - Zend Encoder?) so that people cannot copy it. You should try to find an unencoded version, if there is one because that would save a lot of time.
I've recently gotten quite fond of netbeans for my php work because of the XDebug integration. It has made me all but forget about textmate (which imho still beats netbeans for the little things)
What do you think is the one awesome netbeans feature I should know about, and more importantly why and how do I use it?
I'm asking this to optimize my skills in the use of the IDE and based on the idea that what works well for others might just work for me (and hopefully others).
I've found another great snip of genius i wanted to share:
you can do custom code folding (not really related to php, just netbeans)
just put this into a code file:
// <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="getters and setters">
some boring code you don't need to see every time here
// </editor-fold>
That'll behave similar to #regions in visual studio or pragma marks in xcode. but unlike regions, it doesn't screw up the working of your code, it's really just a comment!
The Subversion Integration directly on the IDE and the Local History are of my must-use, favorite features.
I find the single most useful feature in Netbeans for PHP work is that it understands PHPDoc (in the same way that it understands Javadoc), and uses it for type hinting.
Type /** before a function definition, hit return and it'll create a PHPDoc template.
/** <-- I typed this one line
* #param <type> $otherObj <-- Netbeans added these 3 lines
* #return <type> <--
*/ <--
public function exampleFunction($otherObj)
{
$myObj = new MyClass($otherObj);
return $myObj;
}
Replace the <type> placemarkers with the appropriate types:
/**
* #param OtherClass $otherObj
* #return MyClass
*/
public function exampleFunction($otherObj)
{
$myObj = new MyClass($otherObj);
return $myObj;
}
And voila, you'll get type completion (and pop-up documentation) with Ctrl-space.
Awesome Vi bindings via the jVi plugin.
if ($x instanceof SomeClass) {
$x->.... // now it has code completion with SomeClass' methods.
}
Macros, and Code Templates with advanced input !
Parametrized code templates (try typing fnc in netbeans and then imediately press Tab, and then keep pressing Tab to see what happens, how it cycles through the function name and the function parameters - look inside the code template to see how this is done).
(Options > Editor > Code Templates )
Some easy examples (some I made, some come with netbeans):
[forek] expands to: [foreach ($array as $key => $value) { }] (This one comes with netbeans, the rest I made)
[arr] + Tab expands to: [array();]
[kv] +Tab expands to: ['key' => "val", ] (key and val are parameters that I canc cycle through and edit with tab. The code template looks like this: ['${key}' => "${val}", ] where [${something}] is a template parameter, it prints [something]. if you want it tio print [$something] I think you have to use three ]$] characters: [$$${key}])
EDIT: You can make a code template for the arrow with a single letter (like 'm' for ex) , but when you type in code you have to put a space before the letter, else it wont recognize it. Ex: $obj m[press Tab], expands to [$obj ->]. The space inbetween works ok and is not a sintax error.
/EDIT
Every time I wish there was a template for something, I actually insert the template and then use it imediately and continue with the rest of the php programming.
Macros with shortcuts as mini code templates ! (Netbeans >Menu > Edit >Start / Stop Macro Recording)
Best Macros I made for php are actually Code Templates (because ' + Tab doesnt work as code template for some reason, only if the template begins with a letter it works) ([shortcut] inserts [text]):
shortcut [Ctrl + ;] inserts [->] (no more
keybooard gymnastics, no more dot
sintax envy on other languages :))
shortcut [Ctrl + Shift + ;] inserts [ => ]
This link has a lot of keyboard shortcuts that comes in handy. I have a copy of it printed out and pinned to the wall next to my computer. Sadly, I don't see any special PHP shortcuts though.
UPDATE: http://netbeans.org/project_downloads/usersguide/shortcuts60.pdf
UPDATE2: http://netbeans.org/project_downloads/www/shortcuts.pdf (for 7.0)
I would add Tasks integration. Don't have time to finalize something? Add a simple task which NetBeans will track for you. You can customize what gets tracked in Tasks in Options -> Miscellaneous -> Tasks, but I found the format below to be most useful, as it aligns well with PHPDoc comments (see therefromhere's comment):
/**
* #todo Create public setters and __toString() for this class.
*/
Ctrl + Space is my favorite and most used feature when programming in java, I think it is enabled for PHP as well. But if you like net beans you most likely know about it already, if not try it out discover what it does.
Also navigating to the relevant source code by Ctrl + Clicking on anything from variables, to method calls, to class references is a nice feature.
Additionally, the popup menus that are displayed when right clicking in source code contain many useful tools for everything from refactoring to code generation.
This is going to sound ridiculously trivial, but one thing I do in Netbeans is code formatting. Its code formatting (source->format) rocks.
Its SVN integration is great too, but that's already been said.
The ability to create quick on the fly macros.
For example , here is one that will put a semi-colon at the end of the current line and places your cursor back where it was before the macro started.
";" delete-previous caret-end-line ";" jump-list-last-edit jump-list-last-edit
(I know this is present in other language implementations by default. But it does not work by default in PHP Netbeans.)
As someone who tends to stick with IDE for a long time, I love being able to customize little things to make me more efficient.
If you consider Netbeans 6.7 it has a sync feature a bit like Dreamweaver
In the way that you can add a custom ftp, import it to the project and when you save the files locally they are also uploaded to the server so you have a semi backup system in place.
(trust me it's better than working directly onto a ftp tree and realizing that the transfer failed somehow between the current tmp file and the server file and you lost your work because you closed the file window :) )
NetBeans also allows you to completely undock individual windows.
How to:
Right-click on toolbar of the window which you want to move and select Undock window. The selected window becomes a floating one, which allows you to move it outside of the main NetBeans window.
Highlights:
you can pin floating windows to screen borders or to different floating windows (just the ones from NetBeans though)
floating windows can make themselves semitransparent if you move away from them (configurable via main settings in Miscellaneous/Appearance)
if you move a different application over any floating windows, they come back on top after you start using NetBeans again
your workspace layout is remembered, so all floating windows keep their respective positions between individual coding sessions (NetBeans restarts)
This is useful especially if you have a second monitor, as it allows you to maximize the space available for source code by moving any supplementary windows (the file browser, unit test results, etc) away from the main screen. The nice thing is that NetBeans works around most annoyances which are usually present in multi-window applications (e.g. different applications covering individual toolbars in GIMP).
Note: perhaps this is commonly known feature, but I managed to discover it just today. It wasn't on the list yet, so I added it even though I already answered with a different feature some time ago.
Squiglies under unused private class members.
maybe the search box, to find anything in the source code`?
Some features definitely worth looking out for, including the ones mentioned above:
Version control Integration, including Local History
IDE wide search box
Integration with Tomcat/Apache, GlassFish can be helpful when you are looking to work with PHP and other server side technologies, like JSP
Very good integration with MySQL- essential to wAMP/LAMP development
TextMate is a great slick little editor I use all the time on my Mac, but not an IDE. I haven't enjoyed Netbeans on Mac very much being so non-native, but on Windows or Linux I prefer it over Eclipse.
The Swing GUI designer with Java has been huge in getting projects done rapidly.
Other people have said it, but integrated Subversion is awesome. If I've been working with a project from the terminal in Linux it figures out I've got SVN checked out on that directory and handles it fine.
I love the code formatting (right click in the editor), especially when team members write poorly spaced/indented code with nano, xemacs, or something like that.
its amazing that no one has talked about this cool plugin.
http://code.google.com/p/zen-coding/
I have found it very useful for html. PHP developers do need it. It adds a lot of templates like this.
download zen-coding for netbeans and import zip file in tools>options>code templates>import.
I like this the most: phpunit + code coverage
I've personally used Eclipse a couple of years ago for Java development, and ever since i knew Netbeans at version 3.5, it has gotten really good with the integration of server technologies as TomCat for J2EE application deployment, subversion, uml and plenty of plug-ins for different tecnologies, not just java now.
Database integration (MySQL, Jdb, SQL editor).
Continuous progress in PHP integration and features.
Subversion integration...it does help A LOT!
Code indent, custom color highlighting.
If you are a PHP developer, Ruby on Rails integration can be of help too, if you want to expand your expertise on web apps.
Netbeans has always been known for delivering support for experimental (not-yet-released) technologies, such as Java 6 EE preview, JDK7 support, ...
And, subversion support out-of-the box. It's a great difference to Eclipse, where you have to use plug-ins. With Eclipse I had only problems under Linux (JavaHL problems, blabla...). I don't remember who said it, or where it is written, but "out-of-the-box support is much more relevant to a user than the ability to use some plug-ins".