Hi there

I have been using Homesite for all my web development since version 4 in the late 90'. Initally only for HTML development, but as I started programming ASP i found it to be quite useful for that too. In 2002 I came to my sences and started coding PHP as it seemed far more powerful than ASP at the time. Again, Homesite did the job. But - as my projects have become larger and larger, I have found homesite to be lacking the powerful features you get end dedicated PHP editors and IDEs. I have hoped for Macromedia to release updates to Homesite which has been stuck at version 5.0 for several years now, but I have lost that hope as no one has heard anything about plans to even touch the sourcecode of that editor.

Realizing that development has most likely stopped completely on Homesite, I started looking for a replacement editor. I thought it would be an easy task as Homesite is not packed with features. I was wrong. I must have downloaded and worked with every php related editor on the market by now and I still havent found THE editor to replace Homesite. Initially I gave Zend Studio a fair chance as it seemed the obvious choice given their position. It has a lot of nice features and is quite close to the behaviour that I am so familiar with. But DAMN it's slow... I can't type code without winamp skipping songs and cpu usage for normal typing or scrolling is through the roof! So much for Zend studio. Then went on to PHPed which was the obvious choice after writing off Zend as a candidate. Again it looked promising, but after a week or so I gave up and went back to homesite (i had to get stuff done). Moving on to PHPedit (NOT PHPed) I actually thought I had found it. But apparently stability is not something the French care much about. Going back to PHPed as it seemed to be the only editor that was at least close to what I was looking for AND being fast and reliable. My evaluation had expired, so I bought the Pro edition convinced that I could learn to love it. But no - after a few days and even though I had paid $300 for it, I went back to homesite. I just couldn't live with the quirks and the bugs in PHPed, though it was very minor things. Two days ago I began my search again, and after having installed and tried 3-4 editors I hadn't tried before I decided to have a go with PHPed again. I downloaded the 4.6 version and began working on my current project which involves quite a lot of code. I was sold! I like it - don't love it quite yes, but I surely do like it.

I know that I am far from being the only Homesite user in desperate search for a replacement editor. There are numerous websites and messageboards about homesite and php "extensions" and a lot of users express their concern with the lack of development on the editor. Therefore I have compiled this list of bugs and feature request that would help PHPed become a VERY suitable successor to homesite for a lot of people. some might say that I have just gotten used to the way Homesite works and I can't deny that. But I do think that the features I am requesting are quite general purpose and have their right in the editor.

Here we go: (Version 4.6 build 4619)

FR=Feature request

Syntax coloring:
One of the major things that make an editor good is it's syntax coloring as it greatly help your overview of the code. (Notepad with top notch syntax coloring would be a very good editor:-)

In Homesite some html tags have different colors making it very easy to distinguish between tables, forms and "the rest" (divs, span, n and hx tags) so:

• Ability to to have different colors for the most important tags (FR)
  - h1-h7 (as one) - form - table - div - span - maybe link and script, ut not as important as they are often in the head and easy to distinguish. - The rest as one
  
• PHP within HTML tags not recognized as PHP (bug)
  
• In PHP, a new option "used whitespace" (or whatever) giving a background color for the whitespace that's actually used. (Every line from BOL to EOL) spaces within the line should still be colored. The option now affects the whole line. (FR)
  
• Again some basic javascript formatting (recognized keywords etc.) (FR)

Code completion:

• Seem like the code completion feature is struggling to keep itself updated. When I have just written a variable it doesn't appear in the completion list. (bug)
  
• It seems to be almost random when code completion works and when it doesn't
  
• I would like the ability to also include variables further down the page I'm working on, not just variables from above (when working with files that have includes and not in a project nor having the included file opened.) (FR)
  
• when in a class, I would like $this-> to return class variables (e.g. $this->folderId) (FR)
  
• When pressing enter from code completion, it sometimes deletes what is to the right of the insertion point (can't give exact example now, but will upate with that, when i encounter it again.)
  

General editor:

• There are some issues with the way the carret moves with alt+left/right. (I have seen your response to a similar complaint, but I still think it can be optimized) I have written a testcase on it on my other computer at the office, so I will post that later.

FTP:

• Brilliant speed
  
• Seems like unnecessary redundancy that folders are repeated in the lower frame - I would like to just see files there.
  
• Upload by dragging files to a folder
  
• Ability to create an empty text file directly on the server with rightclick->Create file (Makes it easier to add new files. - I know it can be done via the menus, but this would make it way smoother)

SQL client:

• The drop table makes me nervous!!! There are few features to administer the structure, but a droptable that's just waiting for a mishap doesn't please me very much)
  

When all that has been said, I must say that I am very impressed with the product, and more importantly with your involvement with your own product. Honestly I took the decision to give PHPed another GO after seeing how dedicated you guys are to making your product better. After all - German engineering is hard to beat!

If you got this far in this VERY long post I'm even more impressed. I hope that some of the features can be adopted in later releases, and I am very willing to supply you with more information on any subject.

Yours sincerely
Jesper Dudal
Dudal Webdesign

this very simple to reproduce.
type:
then move you cursor back just before the $
the start typing: strtol
stop and wait for the code completion to show strtolower and press enter
the result is:
it removed the $ps_temp1

Perfect thanks - I couldn't remember the exact problem yesterday, but there you go.

Probably, you're need to turn off tools->settings->editor settings->Clear when inserting template. It affects both inserting code templates and inserting code completion.


As of the rest reports and feature requests, I say "GREAT"
But could you step a little forward and send me screenshots and/or code samples that will illustrate each particular problem?
Just for example, I can't get non-working php in html tags. It works good in my samples. And so forth.

Regarding feature requests, they are more or less known, we'll work on most of them and for sure they will be done (sooner or later).

BTW thanks for your 3rd coming back (and for the 1st and 2nd too).

changed it first thing this morning (after some coffee). Thanks.