Is there a true all-in-one solution for PHP Development?

views:

169

answers:

+1 Q:

Is there a true all-in-one solution for PHP Development?

I'm looking for a "SINGLE INSTALLER" solution for PHP Development.

Is there anything out there which will give me a nice IDE, Web Server, Debugger, Database, etc, on a single install image (*.msi or *.exe)?

This of course would be completely opposite of Eclipse PDT, which requires you to search and locate a bunch of additional components which never quite work together.

+5 A:

I think you should go for a separate install for server (web, database) and one for development (IDE, debug) -> Zend or PHPed ?

Ropstah 2010-04-03 18:37:11

+3 A:

I don't know if you'll find all of what you're looking for in one package for Windows, but you can get it narrowed down to about two...

XAMPP for Windows comes with: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

Then you just need an editor with a debugger, which there are many choices, mostly non-free, such as NuSphere's PhpEd - or free - such as Eclipse PDT or gVim+XDebug+DBGp client.

rkulla 2010-04-03 18:40:00

@rkulla: You mention Eclipse PDT. But Eclipse PDT does not have a debugger. I've found blogs and instructions about some additional stuff from Zend that would be necessary for enabling the debug feature, but those do NOT work. No better than gVim+XDebug+DBGp which comes in 3 pieces.

Alex R 2010-04-04 19:50:20

PDT can use XDebug instead of Zend Debugger. Every PHP developer, imo, should have xdebug installed anyway - for prettier and automatic var_dump'ing, profiling, etc. I prefer vim+xdebug+dbgp

rkulla 2010-04-04 20:37:27

I also recommend you install Linux, at least as a virtual machine (I use Virtual Box), then you'll be able to easily apt-get/yum/rpm/whatever packages and it already comes with vim, PLUS you get a unix shell (bash, zsh, or whatever you like) which imo is the best IDE there is :)

rkulla 2010-04-04 20:45:26

+1 A:

Netbeans is a nice IDE for PHP, too. I use it all the time and I'm much more satisfied with than with Eclipse PDT. It comes in one neat bundle, that you can just install and use right away.

Just download the PHP bundle here

As for a web server, I can recommend XAMPP or Zend Server. They are both easy to install and do a good job. XAMPP has MySQL on board while Zend Server has some really cool optimization features for great performance.

Techpriester 2010-04-03 18:48:02

Oh, and Netbeans is completely free of charge, unlike PHPEd or Zend Studio.

Techpriester 2010-04-03 18:49:37

I found NetBeans pretty awesome for Java development with all its bells and whistles but very frustrating for writing PHP and connecting to my web server. In the end I settled with Dreamweaver, even though it's basically just a text editor with FTP support.

Lotus Notes 2010-04-03 19:09:13

+3 A:

I think the question is: Does there need to be a true all-in-one solution? I think not.

I agree it's bothersome to have to put dozens of pieces together, but I find a combination of XAMPP, the IDE of my choice, and a few additional bells and whistles (like Polystyle for source code formatting) totally flexible, and not too much work to install.

Pekka 2010-04-03 18:52:23

This was exactly my thoughts. The included IDEs in packages like that are usually some sorta homebrew-crap and I never end up using it anyway.

Earlz 2010-04-03 19:13:06

+2 A:

True one-in-all - not yet. Maybe someone reading this will upload a version.

My tip would be:

XAMPP and Netbeans (The PHP bundle).

2 clicks to install.

3 clicks if you don't have java installed already.

zaf 2010-04-03 19:04:42

Does the debugger work out of the box? Can you place a break-point on a PHP web page invoked through the browser?

Alex R 2010-04-04 19:51:57

I've never used breakpoints (not so straightforward (for me) to use them in web apps, I know of better techniques) so I can't answer that. Maybe others can comment.

zaf 2010-04-05 11:16:38

Another vote for xampp.

Tyler 2010-04-03 19:12:12

So vote +1 for the one who support XAMPP. Don't submit a useless answer...

Dor 2010-04-03 20:22:08

Should it be a requirement that your development environment is easy to install? You're a developer so, you should be able to install and configure a set of (more powerful) tools that suit your specific needs.

You'll only install your bundled IDE once (every so often) so that feature no longer is of benefit when you're developing your projects. It's more likely to become a hindrance as you struggle to configure your environment.

Take a look at Komodo IDE also.

Rimian 2010-04-04 04:32:52

If you're on windows you can get a WAMP package for web,php,database. For IDE I do like Zend Studio 5.5. Not their latest interation based off of PDT. 5.5 has a nice debugger and a built-in web browser that you can view output. The interface is pretty fast, running your code through the debugger/browser is slower than on a real webserver, but ofcourse you get the nice perks of breaking,inspecting your code. The only drawback is that Zend Studio 5.5 is not supported anymore and the highest PHP version that works with it is 5.2.13.

Currently though I have a Virtualbox Ubuntu Server image that mirrors my production enviroment, except it has Samba installed so I can easily copy files back and forth.

Klinky 2010-04-04 04:56:15

ansaurus

tags:

views:

answers:

Is there a true all-in-one solution for PHP Development?

related questions