I am looking for a free PHP IDE to use for my PHP script making. I am currently using Notepad++, but I do not like the way it saves sessions. By IDE, I mean an editor that creates projects and helps link files together, like Dev-C++ does for C++ projects. It is kind of sloppy keeping all the files in one directory, and having to remember all of these includes and stuff and what each file contains. I need one that keeps all PHP files nice and organized. I have tried Dev-PHP and it was what I needed, it just had a funky color scheme. Could anybody reccommend one to me. I need it to be up-to-date and not discontinued.

I use Eclipse with the PHP Development Tools add-on. It keeps track of all your classes and provides code hints as you type that are relevant to your code. It also keeps everything neatly stored in project folders, and can sync itself with SVN repositories and all sorts of other useful stuff. Being free, you've got nothing to lose by trying it.

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I use PHP editor Personal from MPSoftware, it does basically all of what the above product says but it doesnt Sync, It does however have an internal browser that you can use to check HTML with and it can also be linked up with a PHP server, EG the XAMPP PHP server to also preview PHP files while still ion the editor (similar to the way Frontpage and other WYSIWYG editors toggle between code and preview)

It also keeps track of all includes and i think it also does have the project functionality, and i think keeps track of classes, its possible it lists the variables used too but im not 100% sure.

It's syntax highlighted and as the above product does it also provides code hints and auto completes double quotes (so typing " automatically adds the second quote with the cursor in the middle for easy ECHO coding etc... ) And auto indents logical statements so after the first opening bracket { you will get the following lines indented for easy reading.

It's also free but its only for non-commercial use (there is a commercial version with more features) but sadly it is also "discontinued" so there are no more updates for it, im not sure of the status of support but to be honest ive never had any issues with it.

If you're interested google "php designer mpsoftware" that way you will get the homepage and be able to check out all the features

I use simply notepad for php. Actually I work only for WAP sites, and my projects are quite simpl, so I did not feel for this type of editor before. But now I am thinking that this type of editor will help me enough. Thanx for the above information, I am going to download Eclipse adn PHP Development Tools.

Although I have not used Crimson Editor for any project management, it has the capability. The only reason I have switched from Notepad to Crimson Editor is the loading and resource usage. It is very low. Impressive.

I use Geany for all of my coding needs. It's an open-source program and it's available for Windows as well. I love the fact that i don't have to constantly look at the PHP manual to figure out what a PHP function needs (in case i forget). When i start typing out the function, a little tooltip pops up showing the syntax of that function. It also remembers the names of custom functions, variables, etc, and shows it in a pop-up dropdown list for you to choose from—big time saver. The fact that it's lightweight is a big plus for slow and old computers.

Well, I am doing to try out PDT for Eclipse as soon as I find out how to install it under Linux. If not I will try Geany and Crimson Editor. Thanks for the suggestions!

I recommend you Eclipse! I had used it two years ago. Some Linux distributions have included Eclipse but it doesn't like this you can download it and PDT from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ Eclipse works on Linux and Windows plaforms... and the installation is the same process...
EasyEclipse is other option, I'm not sure but I believe that it has included maneger for PHP Projects.

This post has been edited by glargo: Apr 14 2008, 05:19 AM