Any netbeans features that will make my day?

Question

Hi all,

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).

Answer 1

The Subversion Integration directly on the IDE and the Local History are of my must-use, favorite features.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

Awesome Vi bindings via the jVi plugin.

Answer 5

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 :) )

Answer 6

maybe the search box, to find anything in the source code`?

Answer 7

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

Answer 8

Some features definitely worth looking out for, including the ones mentioned above:

1. Version control Integration, including Local History
2. IDE wide search box
3. Integration with Tomcat/Apache, GlassFish can be helpful when you are looking to work with PHP and other server side technologies, like JSP
4. Very good integration with MySQL- essential to wAMP/LAMP development

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

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.

Answer 12

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!

Answer 13

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".

Answer 14

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.

Answer 15

if ($x instanceof SomeClass) {
  $x->.... // now it has code completion with SomeClass' methods.
}

Answer 16

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.
 */

Answer 17

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 [ => ]