I was never a big fan of commercial software. It all changed when i started my first job and saw ZendStudio 5.5. I was amazed by it. I had no idea that IDE can make so much difference in PHP programming and i was not even using 50% of features that this software offers to the programmer. When i heard that Zend Studio 6 will be based on PDT a plugin for Eclipse IDE i was interested in the outcome. The results are well … read further to find out.
Background
Before Zend Studio for Eclipse was released, Zend Studio 5 and PDT were two entirely different applications. Zend Studio was developed from a scratch by Zend programmers and was one of the most professional IDE designed specifically for PHP development. PDT on the other hand was a plugin for Eclipse (formerly developed by IBM programmers) which converted Eclipse into PHP IDE, it was (and still is) open source project so … sure there are some bugs and software is not so easy to use but it was the most advanced IDE for PHP. I cannot speak for the Zend Company, but they probably realized this and got involved in the PDT project. (Full story about that can be found in PHP Architect, sorry do not remember which number it was.) From the start they did not hide the fact that they are helping community for free but in the end they are going to publish commercial product … Zend Studio for Eclipse – which is a subject of this review.
Keep in mind that, despite Zend decided to publish commercial product you still can download PDT as a standalone software and use it for personal and commercial use without any restrictions, however PDT can be thinked of as light version of new Zend PHP IDE project.
Basic Features
Some of features that Zend Studio for Eclipse has are standards implemented in all PHP Editors so there is no need to describe them here i will just list them here.
- Code Folding this is a feature that allows to hide certain parts of code, like functions, classes and comments.
- Syntax Highlighting, well this one is obvious
- PHP (Project) Explorer View, this is actually feature that is important to me
- PHP Manual Integration
- Code generation, Zend Studio for eclipse can generate default getters and setters function as well as code for PHP classes and interfaces
- Refactoring very useful feature when you need to: move files and folders, rename files classes, function and variables. Basically it helps to organize files included in the project.
- CVS and SVN integration
- SQL / Database Support, Zend Studio for Eclipse offers query syntax highlighting and visual editor, it also allows to browse database contents directly from IDE, it means no more switching between IDE and phpMyAdmin
- Real time error detection, all errors in the code are underlined like errors in Microsoft Word. I like that, it helps to eliminate all stupid syntax errors upfront
- Zend offers one year of free upgrades and support (phone and email). I don’t have personal experience with their support but from what i know they are quick to answer all questions and resolve problems.
- Many other functions that all other PHP editors have, it doesn’t make sense to list them here
Smart Goto Source + Hover Support
When you point over function, class or method used in the code and press control this element name will turn into link, if you click it you will be taken to the element definition. This feature was also available in Zend Studio 5.5 and i have no doubt that t saved me a lot time, very useful i am glad it was also included in Zend Eclipse project.
Code Assist/Completion
It may seem that code completion should be listed as a standard feature, but if you haven’t seen Microsoft Visual Studio, NetBeans or Eclipse code completion in action then i assure you that this is something you have never seen. First of all Zend Studio 6 offers not only code completion for functions from PHP manual, but also all functions and classes included in the project. More over if function or class is documented Zend Studio shows additional box with documentation for it.
If i would have to name one feature that makes Zend Studio worth buying … it would definitely be code completion. I can’t emphasize enough how much time will this one little feature save you.
Zend Framework Integration
Zend Studio 5.5 had great code assistance for projects using Zend Framework. In Zend Studio for Eclipse developers took it one step further and now we can create whole Zend Framework based projects with just a few clicks. Zend Studio will generate default project structure with controllers views and models, in version 6.1 there was also new functionality added Zend Controller Test Case Wizard, it allows to quickly test Controller ‘Action’ methods by simulating requests coming to the server.
Since Zend Framework 1.6 release Dojo Toolkit became official JavaScript Framework for Zend Framework, so Zend Studio for Eclipse has got code assist for Dojo.
Bugs and Problems
Unfortunately Zend Studio has also some serious bugs.
- First of all as far as i am concerned PHPUnit testing doesn’t work at all. It was the case in version 6.0 and probably still is in version 6.1 although i haven’t checked it.
- Real Time error detection will find errors in real time, but when you fix those errors, you need to save file if you want errors marks to disappear – probably it is more of a Eclipse bug then Zend but still it is a bug.
- Building projects takes almost forever
- Many people on the Internet report that Zend Studio for Eclipse often crashes and everything they did not save is lost, there is simply no way to retrieve it. I do not know what they are doing with Zend Studio, but it shouldn’t happen anyway.
- Uses a lot of RAM Memory and CPU (resolved in version 6.1)
- SVN doesn’t work correctly, when you want to Commit your work it sometimes happens that it crashes and all files in the project are locked forever
Conclusion
I rate Zend Studio for Eclipse 8/10, i wanted to give it 9 because i do not use features that do not work but i wouldn’t be objective so i had to reevaluate my rating and settled for 8.
Zend Studio for Eclipse is a great IDE for PHP programmers, but the fact is not everyone needs an IDE. If you are working on very small projects where you have only few files and no objects at all, then using Zend Studio is actually a waste of money and time. In my opinion Zend Studio is suitable only for big object oriented projects. It is also extremely useful in projects that take full advantage of Zend Framework in their development. In other case you will never even have a chance to use even 1% of Zend Studio capabilities.
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2 Comments on "Zend Studio Eclipse Project"
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