Web development with Eclipse Europa, part 2nd

As a Web developer, Eclipse is a single integrated development environment (IDE) that can improve productivity, regardless of the technology mix you want to use. In part 1th of the three-part series, "Web Development with Eclipse Europa," you learned how to quickly develop Java™web applications using the latest version of Eclipse--europa--. In part 2nd, we will learn how easy it is to develop a PHP application using a different set of Eclipse Plug-ins collectively referred to as the PHP Development Toolkit (PDT).

Before you start

Are you a PHP developer? If so, what do you use as a development environment? You may be a conservative in the VI and Emacs debate, or you may want to use the IDE, but you have not decided which existing commercial product to use. Whichever approach you take, you need to understand the PHP Development Toolkit that works for Eclipse. Yes, Eclipse no longer applies only to Java developers. Having a PHP programming background is critical to maximizing the effectiveness of this tutorial. Familiarity with the Eclipse IDE is helpful, but not necessary.

About this series

In the "Web Development with Eclipse Europa" series, you will learn that, regardless of the language you choose, Eclipse is a platform for web development. A flexible plug-in system makes it easy to create a variety of Eclipse versions tailored to WEB development using Java technology, PHP, and Ruby. You'll see how different plug-ins provide unique Eclipse functionality for each language, and you'll see some common features that all WEB developers can take advantage of. In this series, we will create a sample baseball Web application that will allow us to enter the game data for the baseball players and calculate the stats for those players.

About this tutorial

Eclipse has been a favorite IDE for Java developers for years. However, Eclipse was originally designed to be a development platform suitable for all languages. Eclipse is written in the Java programming language, so it's natural to take Java development as a starting point. Eclipse's plug-in architecture has gained a large number of powerful plug-ins and is key to Eclipse's success. Combining these two factors, eclipse is a powerful development platform for all languages and an Eclipse plug-in architecture that enables you to implement the eclipse-based IDE for PHP. Developing PHP Development Toolkit is as simple as that.

This article is part 2nd of the three-part series of tutorials on developing WEB applications in Eclipse. So far, we've learned how easy it is to use the Eclipse IDE for Java EE developers to develop WEB applications in the Java language. Java EE Edition is actually just a collection of plug-ins running on the Eclipse Platform. In this tutorial, we will learn how to develop PHP applications using another set of Eclipse Plug-ins collectively referred to as the PHP Development Toolkit (PDT). We'll also get a second look at some of the features in the Java EE Edition, which are also part of PDT.

Prerequisite

Having a Java programming background is critical to maximizing the effectiveness of this tutorial. Familiarity with the Eclipse IDE can be very helpful, but not necessary.

System Requirements

Your computer needs to have the following software or Plug-ins installed:

Eclipse Europa This tutorial will use Eclipse V3.3 (Europa). Java Development Kit (JDK) This tutorial will show you how to develop WEB applications using Java technology, so you need to use Java Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 or later. Download V5.0 or V6.0. The Eclipse IDE for Java EE developers also needs to use the Eclipse IDE for Java EE developers. The Java Runtime Environment (Java Runtime ENVIRONMENT,JRE) must be equipped with a JRE to run Eclipse. The Apache Tomcat application will use Apache Tomcat as a container. The MySQL V5.0 application will use the MySQL V5.0 as the database. The Java Persistence API also needs to use the Java Persistence API, especially OpenJPA implementations. The Eclipse php Development Toolkit (PDT) tutorial will show you how to develop WEB applications using PHP, so you need to use PHP Development Toolkit. You can get PDT as a set of plug-ins that are installed as an existing Eclipse. If you have just started using eclipse, you can get a complete installation that includes the Eclipse platform and the PDT plug-in. PHP is required to use PHP, so get the latest version, the latest version of this article is V5.2.1. Apache HTTP Server requires a WEB server that is integrated with PHP. This tutorial is developed using the Apache V2.0.59. The Fancy PHP debugger requires a PHP debugger. We are using the Zend debugger V5.2.10. The operating system requires an operating system that can run all of the software or plug-ins above. This series is created using Mac OS X, but you can also use a recent version of Windows® or linux®. The file location needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Introduction to PHP Development Toolkit

PDT successfully launched the 1.0 release in September 2007, so what are you waiting for? Let's start using PDT and become a more productive PHP developer.

Why use the IDE?

Of course, one of the advantages of PHP is that you can do a lot of work with very simple tools. You can write code directly in the "active" directory on the WEB server and point the browser to the page, and that's it! Need to change the code? Just use a text editor to modify it and refresh the browser. Who needs the IDE?

Applications may initially be very simple, but inevitably become more complex. Like the devil applied to Maxwell, the second law of thermodynamics (which increases in entropy over time) also applies to software engineering. For most developers, it is easier to develop such systems if there are debuggers that can stop executing code, delve into the code, examine the status of the application, and so on.

Complex applications typically have multiple developers developing at the same time. Typically, source code control is required, and it is best to integrate source control into the development environment. Using source control often involves keeping the source code separate from the execution environment, typically the WEB server. In this case, it's a good idea to have a development environment that lets you easily deploy your code to a WEB server.

PHP development almost always involves using a database. Of course, you can use a database using command-line tools and text-based tools. You can also use graphics programs to easily complete the operation. It is best to integrate the graphical environment into the development environment. This is the so-called integrated development environment. PDT is undoubtedly an integrated development environment.