NetBeans for PHP

Removing Trailing Spaces

Last week, when I was at the IPC 2009 conference, a some user ask me whether NetBeans removes trailing spaces. It was one question from many and I would like to clarify how it works in NetBeans 6.0 - NetBeans 6.8.

Basically it works automatically on save. So when you invoke Save action then the trailing spaces should be removed from the file. There are two exceptions, when the spaces are not removed from a line:

• The line wasn't changed. The main reason for such behavior is that usually you don't want to have unnecessary changes in the diff, if the files comes from a VCS. So unchanged lines are not touched and if there is a space at the end of such line, then is not removed. When you edit the line then the spaces are removed on save as well.
• The line where the caret is located. When you invoke Save action, then the position of the caret is not changed. But all trailing spaces after caret are removed.

International PHP Conference 2009

It was one year ago, when I attended IPC conference for the first time in my life (it was my first PHP conference at all). At the time we released NetBeans 6.5 that was the first version of NetBeans with PHP support and only few people knew about NetBeans. The goal was to introduce NetBeans to the PHP developers.

This year I'm going to attend the conference as well. The Internation PHP Conference starts this Sunday. There will be one session about NetBeans on Monday and I will talk mainly about new features in NetBeans 6.8. There will be also a small NetBeans booth where we can meet during the conference. I should be there from Monday to Wednesday. We are looking forward to talking with you. 

Symfony Support Screencast

We've created a screencast that demonstrates the built-in support for the Symfony framework in NetBeans IDE for PHP 6.8. It shows how to set up the IDE to use Symfony, how to create a PHP project that uses the Symfony framework, and a number of tips, such as handy keymapping to set up in NetBeans IDE.

SQL code completion improved

Today, I would like to show you some improvements done in SQL code completion area (thanks to our colleagues from database team!).

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PHP Namespace Support Screencast

We've now finished a screencast demonstrating PHP 5.3 namespace support in NetBeans IDE 6.8. (See Code Completion for Namespaces part I). The screencast also shows code hints for assigning variables, namespace naming hints, and how to set the options for PHP code completion.

Formatting and Indentation

I attended this weekend WebExpo 2009 in Prague. I had one session there about developing web applications in NetBeans. Originally I though that the presentation should be divided into two main parts. One part about PHP and second part about Java Web. Because the bulk of the audience were PHP developers, I spent  talking about PHP development in NetBeans almost whole session. After the session there was a long discussion (more than 1 hour) and some people complained about formatting.

As a result I have decided to look at this and to try to fix as many bugs as possible. Because there is not much time for NetBeans 6.8, I would like to ask you for help. I have created task in our Issuezilla, where you can put the cases, when formatting or indentation doesn't work correctly. If you don't have Issuezilla account and you don't want to create it, you can paste the cases here as a comment. A case should contain an example of the code before formatting / indentation and also the same code, but in the right form.

I can not promise that we can fix all these cases, but we will try as many as possible.

Thanks for your help.

PHP templates improved

Today, I would like to show you the latest improvements in PHP templates area.

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Download NetBeans IDE 6.8 Milestone 2

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Symfony support finished

Today I would like to announce that the support for Symfony PHP Framework (as we planned it for NetBeans 6.8) is finished. So, what's new?

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Flickr Slideshow with NetBeans IDE 6.5

Justin Bolter shows you how to build a PHP Flickr slideshow using NetBeans IDE 6.5.  [Read More]

PHP in YAML files

From the last week there is recognized PHP language in YAML files. It is only on the lexical level, but it's helpful.  This feature is mainly required by Symfony framework that uses PHP in YAML files.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We are searching for all PHP NetBeans users who would like to help us with testing our new experimental build. Everyone is welcome but we would need a feedback especially from users who often have to switch from NetBeans to command line or any other external application (usually because of running some external tool for versioning, PHP framework etc.). All these external changes should be correctly propagated to NetBeans.
On the other hands, performance, especially on non-local disks, could be slightly worse, so if you have any PHP project with such sources, please, give it a try as well because we are really interested in your results.

So, if you would like to participate on this testing, download the build, start it with -J-Dorg.netbeans.modules.masterfs.REFRESH.level=0 so the useful information can be logged. By the end of August 2009 (the sooner the better), please send us your feedback together with the IDE log (send it directly to tomas (dot) mysik (at) sun (dot) com).

Detailed information can be found on a special wiki page dedicated to this experimental build.

Thanks a lot for your help and for your feedback!

Keyboard Shortcuts Learning

Keyboard shortcuts make your every day life easier, so it make sense to improve your key learnings.

PHP Magazine collected list of Netbeans keyboard shortcuts that could save you a lot of time.

Shortcuts for Mac OS X users.

The ultimate way how to learn keyboard shortcuts for your version of NetBeans is to check out the available shortcuts in Tools->Options->Keymap.

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Screencast: Declaring Variables in Comment and Code Completion for Constructors and SQL Queries

A screencast is now available showing how to declare variables in comments, constructor code completion, and SQL code completion. The screencast is hosted on mediacast.sun.com. [Read More]

Code Completion for Namespaces - part I

This is brief overview how to use code completion for namespaced elements in NetBeans 6.8.
Namespaced elements are resolved according  name resolution rules.

See examples for namespace name definitions that are important for resolution rules:

// Fully qualified name
$c = new \my\name\ExampleClass();

// Qualified name
$c = new name\ExampleClass();

// Unqualified name
$c = new ExampleClass();

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