Nothsa:

Thank you for your very comprehensive reply.

The first thing I found was that my Project was set up incorrectly. I deleted my Project and set up a new one with the correct Project Root Directory. This made a huge difference. I didn't have to Add files to the project because they now showed in the tree under the project. So this part is good.

At this point though, the .php files still go on indefinite hold but I can run .html files and they render perfectly.

However if I simply click the Preview tab at the botton of an .html file , I get an improper rendering that shows no linkage to the .css or graphics files. You meantioned about Dreamweaver, it does this aspect superbly. It is the most powerful html editor I have come across. If you have its functionality in NuSphere then you are in good shape because Dreamweaver cannot run PHP. I can analyse this part of your software in some detail if I can get it running. I can tell your IDE is much better, but I have to get it to work.

Re: PORTS. I get the impression from your note that ports are virtual i.e. I don't have to take my machine in to the shop to get a port 8081 added. I have not tried your code about "listening" but I will if I can get this thing to work.

Thanks again.

Mike Smith

Nothsa:

I got it running!!!

I found that when I click RUN, RUN that it brings up Mozilla but the URL box sits empty. I then entered the local host URL into the URL box and it rendered perfectly. So this is a giant step forward. I can deal with this idiosyncacy now that I have it figured out.

It would be great if the Preview tab would work on .html files but I can live without that too by using Dreamweaver for my .html code.

The thing that I am interested in, is debugging. I am looking for the following:
- mismatched braces
- mismatched brackets
- issuing a query without linking to the data base first
- wrong syntax for a query (e.g. field name should have single quotes around it - this may not be humanly possible but it would be great)
- wrong name for a table (e.g. correct Data Base linked, but the query referred to a table named 'Customers1' when the table in the Data Base is called 'Customers2')

I would also like to get something to tidy up my code. I think this part does work. I have get the editor settings set for "Smart Indent" and I think this is working, but I have to test it further.

I tried setting the port to 20,000 and this works fine, the same as 8081. I ran the netstat code and you are right, port 8080 (called 80) is running even though I have everything turned off. I am suspecting that Mozilla is using that port and grabs hold of it at StartUp.

Anyway, I think I have a big enough grip on this, that I can test it out.

Thanks for helping me get started.

Mike Smith

Not mine. I'm just a helpful voice on the forums, not an employee


Great! =)


Don't know enough about PhpED's SRV to help you with that as I usually use Apache. I'll let you know if I find anything.


It should work with HTML. What's not working?

- Not sure what you mean by "mismatched" braces/brackets. PhpED highlights the matching braces/brackets as you're coding, and should highlight parsing errors (underlines text in red) if you use the wrong ones, so you shouldn't have that problem.

- Actually, from the sounds of things it seems you're looking for an "automatic" debugger. Something to run through all of your code and report all the problems that it finds. Unfortunately there is no such thing as the debugger doesn't know exactly what you're wanting to do. E.g. maybe you WANT to query the database without first connecting to it so that you can test your error generation. Go here and click on the "Flash Demo" link next to the "Debug" heading to see examples of how the debugger is used.

All editable in the Editor Settings. You can customise it to exactly how you want to code =)

Hi Nothsa:

Thank you for your reply.

For most of my life I have been working with Windows Data Base languages (e.g. Visual Foxpro, Access) that work directly in the Windows environment (i.e. no web involvement).

If you attempt to:
- query a table that it can't find
- refer to a field name that is invalid or
- do something to the table with improper syntax
you will get stopped on that line with an appropriate debugger message. There is no mystery about what you are trying to do, its obvious to the debugger. They have had these features for 20 years. Now to be fair, I have had to pay for this software. But if there was a good debugger for PHP MySQL, I would be pleased to pay for it.

They also gave us a feature called 'Beautify' that indents the 'if else endif' structures into formatted paragraphs. If you have nested 'if else endif' structures they all indent deeper and deeper according to the degree of nesting. After you press Beautify, its pretty obvious if you are out of balance. If you don't pick it up, you will get a message from the debugger telling you about the imbalance. Again they have had this for 20 years. I had some experience with Visual Basic which deals with code much like PHP called C# and its editor was able to do something like "Beautify". It may work with PHP code. If it does, this might be good to know. I do understand your point about the colours of the matching braces. But if you are working across 150 lines of code (like my code for checking customer login), I would really like something like 'Beautify'.

Another serious problem is poor word wrapping of long lines of code. If I want to break it at a particular point to make it more readable, I am unable to do this. If there was an editor that would help with this, that would be great.

Re: HTML Preview. I was saying much earlier in the thread that HTML will display properly if I Run it. But if I click "Preview" at the bottom, I get a display with no connection to the .css or graphics files. i.e. I get text but no fonting and empty graphics boxes. The concept of Workspace and Project is new to me, so maybe I have not set some parameter there correctly.

I have also submitted my question about debugging into the debugging section of this forum. I don't know if there is a better debugger on the market, this is what I am really looking for.

The IDE for NuSphere seems very sophisticated, but I am working at a pretty basic level where I would make very little use of these features.

Anyway, I will let you know what I find with Visual Basic.

Thank you very much for your help.

Mike Smith

I'm not sure what Access told you when you tried to run an incorrect SQL, but it definitely has not way to show you source line when you assigned that SQL until you run it with assgnment statement. Regarding db error message itself, it's completely up to the database handler. Neither php nor php IDE / editor have any influence on what db says about particular SQL statement you attempt to run. If mysql provides you with a cryptic message, it's up to mysql. We have just nothing to do with this. I hope it's clear.

HTML preview tab runs preview without even saving your file because it works directly with embedded browser and that's why css and images aren't shown. If you want to see them just click Ctrl-F9 (RUN). It's just one click, the same as clicking on preview.

Regarding "beautifier", it's called "Format Text With Polystyle" and IDE runs Polystyle code formatter. If you are not satisfied with it, you may integrate your own beautifier, like one suggested there: http://forum.nusphere.com/some-useful-scripts-for-phped-t1989.html
Hope, one day we'll get a better code formatter.

Dmitri:

Thank you for your reply.

The feature of Running HTML through the browser is available in most PHP Editors starting at $30. If you haven't worked in an environment where you can Preview from the tab then you are losing a lot of time if you work very much with HTML. With Dreamweaver it gets better. You can actually update your code while working in Preview mode. Like suppose you wanted to bold the first 3 words of a paragraph. You can do that while watching the font in preview mode. You can add links, add images, change table widths, add buttons etc. all while in preview mode.

I get the impression that the PHP is debugged by the PHP language debugger, not by NuSphere, so the debugging will be the same with all editors.

Access may not have debugging skill while running MySQL. I was referring to Access when working with its own native database. In that case it will tell you about a specific line of code that has bad syntax, incorrect field names or incorrect table names.

I downloaded Polystyle and I couldn't get it to work. I went through several configuration screens but I need to spend more time to get it to work. I get the impression however that I can integrate Polystyle into any editor.

So if I am right, what NuSpere offers is an IDE. I downloaded NuSpere because someone in my forum group said NuSphere could help with code formatting and debugging. I don't think NuSphere is the solution for my problem.

Thank you so much for your help.

Mike Smith

I didn't see instant preview like Dreamweaver provides in any php editor that cost $30. As of Dreamweaver itself, it's too much far from $30 , isn't it?
On the other hand, we did never pose our IDE as an HTML authoring tool. Of course, PhpED is a PHP IDE on the first place. It means that it has good code insight for php code or Code Explorer, inline error analysys, editor with php code completion, good php debugger and profiler and finally provides several ways to publish results on live servers and supports source control systems like cvs and svn. All the rest are just light features accompanying the IDE.


It's a wrong impression. DBG Php Debugger is a NuSphere tool.
Many other editors are using _our_ debugger (free version).


I worked with MS Access too. In many cases it won't show you correct error messages. For example you may assign a variable with an SQL statement, modify it in a few lines later then assign to the form and show that form much much later. Do you believe access will point you out to the errors in the original asignment statement?
The same way, mysql as well as all other dbms tools will show you error at the point when you execute them. Not sooner


You already thanked me for saving your time. Why to repeat?