PHP Tools for Visual Studio: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:21, 28 May 2019

Revision as of 08:10, 3 June 2019

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PHP Tools includes a code editor that supports [[syntax highlighting]] and code completion to make the PHP code readable. The editor reuses other language editors from Visual Studio such as [[HTML]], [[CSS]], [[JavaScript]].

The code editor makes use of [[PHP]] 5 and PHP 7 type hints and PHPDoc comments. Without specifying the type of information, itIt analyses values and expressions in order to estimate the resulting type. Then, based on the analysis, the app predicts when an expression will cause a run-time error. These errors usually indicate a typo, a missing use or an invalid missing namespace name in PHPDoc comment.

===Debugger===

The majority of featuresFeatures of the integrated [[debugger]] of Visual Studio are supported by PHP Tools. The debugger consists of two main components: the front-end component is the one responsible for visually communicating with the user, and the back-end component is hooked directly to the PHP core. PHP Tools for Visual Studio provides the front-end component and communicates with the back-end provided by the [[Xdebug]] extension. The communication uses the DBGp debugging protocol.

Equally as in Visual Studio<ref>https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/debugger-feature-tour?view=vs-2019#set-a-breakpoint-and-start-the-debugger</ref>, the debugger allows setting [[breakpoints]] to stop execution at a certain position in the code and watches which monitor values of variables when the program is paused. Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning that they brake the code when a given PHP expression is evaluated as true. Also, they can break when a given exception is thrown or by default, the program breaks when a fatal error happens, that is, an exception that prevents the program from continuing.

Once broken into the debugger code, it can be executed one line at a time: this is called stepping. The step commands include Step Into, Step Over, and Step Out<ref>https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/using-breakpoints?view=vs-2019</ref>. When the program is broken, if the mouse hovers over the variable, the current value is displayed in a tooltip, where it can be modified. The debugger allows developers to change the state of the executed program by editing the values of variables, so alternative execution paths can be examined.

===Testing===

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===Other features===

• '''Composer Manager''': PHP Tools for Visual Studio has an extensivea package ecosystem support through integration with Composer (software). This feature allows the user to search, install, update and manage packages from a graphical user interface.

• '''Twig Designer''': The Twig template support includes syntax highlighting, error checking, code completion and outlining. It is built into the system and its features do not require the Twig engine to be installed in the project, but some of them provide additional information when it is present.

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• '''Project Publish''': This feature publishes projects to a remote server. The user can deploy a whole project or just a single file. FTP, SFTP, FTPS, File System and Web Deploy (mainly used for [[Microsoft Azure|Azure]]) are covered.

• '''Refactoring''': the user can avoid typos and keep the code clean when making code alterations, rename all kinds of identifiers when typing or by using the rename dialog. Refactoring can rename identifiers in place or with a detailed preview where you can uncheck single occurrences.

• '''PHP Issues Recovery''': automatically installs and configures PHP to be used properly together with the [[Xdebug]].

• '''New Project Wizard''': an application that helps the user generate new projects in a fast and easy way, modeled from a chosen project template.