This document provides general guidelines for preparing the environment for PHP development, setting up a PHP project, and developing and running your first PHP application in the NetBeans IDE for PHP.
You can install the PHP engine, web server and database separately or use AMP (Apache, MySQL, PHP) packages.
Installation and Configuration
The following documents contain instructions for one or two ways to set up a PHP web stack on your operating system. These instructions are not definitive. The web stack consists of third-party software, your environment may differ, and you might prefer a different AMP package or another way to set up PHP. You might need to supplement our instructions with your own investigations.
As an alternative to setting up your own PHP web stack, you can download and install a server-only OpenSolaris image with a pre-configured PHP web stack, including XDebug. This web stack runs on Sun VirtualBox. You can use NetBeans IDE in your own OS and keep the PHP files on the OpenSolaris image, through FTP. For more information and instructions, please see Deploying PHP to a Lightweight Server-only OpenSolaris Web Stack.
Setting up a PHP Project in the NetBeans IDE for PHP
To start PHP development in the NetBeans IDE for PHP, you first need to create a project. A project contains the information on the location of the project files and the way you want to run and debug your application (run configuration).
Start the IDE, switch to the Projects window, and choose File > New Project.
The Choose Project panel opens.
In the Categories list, choose PHP.
In the Projects area, choose PHP Application and click Next. The New PHP Project > Name and Location panel opens.
In the Project Name text field, enter NewPHPProject.
In the Sources Folder field, browse for your PHP document root and create a subfolder there called NewPHPProject.
The document root is the folder where the web server looks for files to open in the browser. The document root is specified in the web server configuration file.
For example, on Xampp, the document root is XAMPP_HOME/htdocs.
Leave all other fields with their default values. Click Next. The Run Configuration window opens.
In the Run As drop-down list, select Local Web Site. The project will run on your local Apache server. Your other options are to run the project remotely via FTP and to run it from the command line.
Start the IDE, choose File > Open Project. The Open Project dialog box opens.
Select NewPHPProject and click Open Project. The NewPHPProject tree appears in the Projects window and the project's index.php file opens in the editor and in the Navigator window.
Enter the following code inside the <?php ?> block:
echo "Hello, world! This is my first PHP project!";
To run the project, position the cursor on the NewPHPProject node and choose Run from the context menu. The figure below shows what you should see in the browser window:
Congratulations! Your program works!
Using Database Servers with NetBeans IDE for PHP
You can use various database servers
with the NetBeans IDE for PHP, although the most popular is the MySQL server. Downloads are available here. Note: The recommended version of the product is MySQL Server 5.0.
See also:
Meanwhile, to find information specific to the kind of applications you are developing, use the NetBeans IDE
learning trail for that type of application. Each learning trail contains a series of tutorials and
guides that range in scope from basic to advanced. The following
learning trails are available:
To send comments and suggestions, get support, and keep informed on the latest
developments on the NetBeans IDE PHP development features, join
the mailing list.
