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Using Eclipse to Develop in PHP

171easyeclipseThe EasyEclipse distribution is a quick and easy packaging of Eclipse with plugins for different purposes. I recommend using EasyEclipse for PHP which comes with PHP edit mode and useful plugins like SubEclipse for subversion source control integration.

  1. Download and install the latest version of EasyEclipse for PHP.
    • When you launch EasyEclipse, it will prompt you for the workspace directory. Input “c:\projects”. If EasyEclipse doesn’t prompt you for a workspace and instead uses a workspace from an old project, you can manually change the workspace by going to menu “File->Switch workspace”.
    • Note: It is not recommended for you to move or rename your workspace directory once created. The workspace properties have a reference to the original workspace directory.
  2. At this time, checkout the myproject codeline to c:\projects.
    • Go to the EasyEclipse menu “File->New->Project->SVN->Checkout Projects from SVN”.
    • Enter the Repository URL: http://localhost/repos/
    • Then select directory: /myproject
    • Change the project name to: myproject
  3. Edit PHPEclipse options to run XAMPP server:
    • Go to the php external tools settings “Windows->Preferences->PHPeclipse Web Development”. (The following steps will be referenced off of this location.)
    • Set the xampp start and stop buttons under “PHP External Tools->XAMPP”.
    • Set the DocumentRoot path under “Project Defaults” to: C:\projects
    • Add the following to the “Include Paths” under “Project Defaults” to: C:\projects\myproject
    • (Optional) Turn off php file browser preview. Under “Browser Preview Defaults”, uncheck “Refresh PHP browser view…” and “Show PHP browser view…” selections.
  4. (Optional) Configure the tab width to be 3:
    • Go to “Windows->Preferences->PHPeclipse Web Development->PHP”
    • Set “Displayed tab width” to 3.
  5. (Future) Synchronize your source to the latest SVN repository:
    • In the left-hand Navigator, right-click on “myproject”.
    • Select right-click menu “Team->Update”.
  6. Hint: If you are not in PHP edit mode, you can always go to it by going to menu “Windows->Open Perspective->PHP”

Note: If the subversion commands you issue using SubEclipse return errors, you may have an incompatible SVN install directory in the “path” environmental variable. To resolve this, you can remove the SVN install directory from the “path” environmental variable or you can re-install a compatible SVN version. For example, SVN 1.4.6 is compatible with SubEclipse 1.2.1 which comes with EasyEclipse 1.2.2.

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