Delphi for PHP

Question

I just came across Delphi for PHP and my immediate response was "oh, no", but I think maybe I was being too hasty. Has anyone tried it? What do you think?

Answer 1

I think that some of the Aims of Delphi for PHP are outstanding, the initial implementation was perhaps not as great as it could have been.

The main Aims of Delphi for PHP was to create a common framework for php components, a "Visual Component Library" (VCL) that allowed you to work with many different vendors components in a standard way. This VCL is also completly open source in the real sense, not just source code shipped, it was inteneded for the community to make changes and for that to get rolled back into the product.

There are performance issues with the VCL object heirachy being a little too deep, but I think that eventually this will be a very nice product.

Answer 2

I can only repeat that Joe Stagner of Microsoft really likes Delphi for PHP.
He says it here: "[Delphi for PHP] 2.0 is the REAL DEAL and I LOVE IT !"

Answer 3

It would be great if there would be a good Facebook API for Delphi for PHP, it would make rapid to create facebook apps.

Answer 4

If you're a long time Delphi developer who is going for the web hype then it is the tool. It enables you fast dive to web programming. It hides many glitches about web development/design. But IDE performance is weak and the html output generated when your VCL for WEB applications run is hideous. Application runtime performance seems to be weak (but that is almost a common issue in all of the VCLized php frameworks anyway). Debugging is good. The integration of html/php/smarty templates/debugging/database/interface design makes it the only reasonable RAD ide for php. Of course it can help if you work OOP way (without using too much of the VCL components). I used it for the trial period. If I have a web project, I'll go buy it. Main disadvantage is lack of documentation and weak community.

Answer 5

The IDE is low performance and the VCL4PHP seems a bit slow somehow. But the idea of a visual php IDE has a point. The product needs better documentation and samples included should consider covering topics like mvc, agile techniques, unit testing etc.. rather than basic vcl usage. Hope this gets better with future releases

Answer 6

This is what it is about:

* Speed development with drag-and-drop visual design
* Code faster and build quality apps with a complete PHP IDE and debugger
* Build data-driven Web applications with broad database connectivity
* Create AJAX-enabled Web 2.0 pages and sites