Just came across NetBeans for PHP, which is a free IDE for PHP development. If you configure xdebug on your machine, the IDE allows you to debug and step through your code. Luckily this is a Java app so it runs smoothly on my Ubuntu Laptop as well.
They’ve also got excellent documentation on how to setup the IDE on various platforms including Ubuntu. Here’s the link to the Ubuntu and Windows setup help documentation:
Setup Instructions for Ubuntu
Setup Instructions for Windows using XAMPP
If you’re eager like me to get straight to the code debugging functionality, head over to this page which explains how it is done. Debugging PHP Source Code in NetBeans IDE.
NetBeans supports working with SAAS applications in PHP. Some examples are Amazon services API, Facebook, delicious, Yahoo and more… Here’s a tutorial on how simple it is to use NetBeans to create an app using Yahoo News Services – SaaS in PHP: Yahoo News Service Tutorial.
Screen-shots:
A Screenshot of NetBeans for PHP IDE
NetBeans Services integration for PHP
Links:
Download NetBeans PHP Beta
NetBeans PHP Official Site
NetBeans PHP Learning Trail
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Kevin on September 27, 2008
I use Eclipse with the PHP Extensions since a couple of years now and its getting better all the time. Did you use that before?
I could imagine switching, even though I had to learn how to use that new IDE, but I wonder if there are good reasons… Do you know some?
Wen on October 2, 2008
@Vinu – thx for the feedback post about NetBeans for PHP. I know the dev team is always looking for ways to improve support. Also, another place to get the latest info is blogs.sun.com/netbeansphp
@Kevin – lots of good reasons to try out NetBeans for PHP: standard IDE features, integrated JavaScript editor and debugger for IE/Firefox, Database tools (explorer and SQL editor) all in a 20+ mb download.