Hi,

Here are a few more bugs and suggestions I've found while using phpEd. I hope at least some of them could be included in the next release.

Bugs
----

- the phpEd debugger seems to attach itself to the last open Internet Explorer window rather than only the ones it has opened. E.g. if I already have 3 ie windows open (let's call them windows 1, 2 and 3), then when I start the debugger from phpEd's Open Url, the debugger opens it's own window (window 4). OK, fine so far, but when I've finished debugging and close window 4, window 3 seems to have magicly been attached to the debugger, so if I try to go to another page in window 3, phpEd intervenes. IMHO, this shouldn't happen as window 3 was open before phpEd or the debugger started and I should be able to use it without phpEd intervening.

- when you're in a debugging session and you mistakenly try to edit something like pressing the backspace key (OK, memory the size of a pea ), phpEd seems to go into a loop and just keeps beeping every so often. The only way to stop this is to close phpEd down.

- the colour changer in the syntax colouring settings tab only seems to remember the colours in the immediate drop down colour picker. If you click Other, any colour you pick is forgotten and the last colour in the colour picker is the one that is stored.

- php/html auto-switch mode doesn't always work straight away - sometimes once you have positioned the cursor in the opposite code type, the mode doesn't change until you move the cursor to another line. This happens both when you use the keyboard or mouse to position the cursor.

- given this code: explode("/", rtrim($strPath, "/")), code completion doesn't recognise the rtrim as a command and the code editor doesn't highlight it, but doing ctrl+f1 on it does work.

- ctrl+F1 only seems to recognise php functions, not php reserved words.

- can't paste a search term into the search box on the help panel - have to type it in - annoying.

- when switching between file tabs, the display is always moved to have the line with the cursor on at the top of the window - very annoying. It would be better to keep the display showing the same as when you left the file.
- fixed, but only repositions correctly if you remember to make sure the cursor is in the visible window. If it isn't, the window repositions to wherever the cursor is. Better, but still not perfect. Would be perfect if phpEd remembers the top line in the visible window and uses that to do the redisplay.

- backslashes '\' appear as yen symbols in the Immediate tab and in the tool tip popups when you hover over a variable.

- when hovering over a variable in debugging mode and the variable has an & in it, the & doesn't show, however it does show in the locals window.

- when hovering over $HTTP_POST_FILES[$strFilename]["name"], the tooltip shows it as undefined, but it shows up correctly in the locals window.

- if phpEd is associated with the .php extension and a file is double-clicked, phpEd doesn't open the last workspace when this setting is on. It works OK when phpEd is opened normally, though.

Suggestions
-----------

- it would be good to have a left margin in the code window where you can highlight whole lines without it setting a breakpoint (having to click and drag in the breakpoint margin to do this is a real drag (sorry about the pun ) as you quite often end up setting breakpoints instead). The cursor should also change to point to the right to show that you are in the margin.

- when dragging a selection, it would be good to have the cursor move as well, to show exactly where the selection will be dropped.

- would be nice to be able to re-execute code after changing it or a variable on the fly in a debugging session.

- would be good to have a skip command in the debugger to ignore a command.

- when selecting a variable name, it would be useful to have a setting to control whether the leading $ is selected as well (like Dreamweaver).

- would be good to have a select whole words option (like Word), such that if you double-click to select a word then keep dragging the cursor, whole words continue to be selected rather than individual characters.

- would be more useful to keep the find box open after the find rather than closing it.

- if a line wraps to the following line in the editor window, selecting it only selects part of it (i.e. one physical line at a time). Would be better to have the whole logical line selected rather than just a physical line.

- would be nice to be able to see values of constants too.

- it would be good to be able to upload a selection of files/folders at the same time instead of just one at a time.

- it would be good if the ftp client in phpEd was able to use more than one connection at a time.

- it would be good to have a facility to see and work with the files on the remote server.

- it would be really really useful to have constants displayed in the globals window too or even in their own window.

thanks for good post.

See my comments below:


PhpED has very little or nothing to do with this. It simply asks SHELL functions to run a system-defined executable associated with URL, which by default is HTML browser like Internet Explorer. What you described relates to Windows SHELL behaviour. When PhpED runs shell execute, it has no ability to specify what window to attach to... It's shell decides.


Normally, all the files are marked read only while in debug session, so backspace should not work at all. Can you replicate this problem and post there a detailed description of what to click/press/etc ?

Please send me screenshots.

If you can replicate this problem, please post some more info of how to achieve this effect.

What phped build# do you run ? In 3358 it works just fine.


It's known behaviour... Yet.

Under Windows XP paste works just fine. Can you see popup window on the editor box ? Have you tried Ctrl-Ins ?


Please send me screenshots.


Can't replicate it under QA environment...
Please send me screenshot of the following tabs in settings dialog:
IDE, debugger, editor



it was fixed long time ago.
see screenshot:




Can't replicate it. Works just fine:




This behaviour is by design... When PhpED was launched before, clicked file is loaded and workspace is not unloaded (otherwise it would not be convenient). If the IDE was not loaded when you clicked a file, it does not load anything but the file.



Hmm, if you click on the left gutter, drag mouse down and release on a different line, it does NOT set any breakpoint, only select range of lines.



Well. Will see how to achieve it...


It's not possible with php engine. Engine itself must be redisigned to accomplish this task.

Will think of it.


Whenever I dbl-click on a variable it selects $ too. Isn't it what you asked ?


Can't replicate it. Whenever I dbl-click on the line and "Double Click Line" is checked in the options, it selects whole line of text, regardless it is in WRAP mode or not.


What version do you run ? In phped 3.3 it works just fine.


Will see what to do with it...


Aha.


Will see what to do with it...

Hi ddmitrie,

Thank you for your comments. I have some too:

IE window problem:

Hmmm, I suspected as much. I've found a simple work around though, if anyone is interested. Just open another window before you start any phpEd sessions. This seems to separate your existing ie windows from any debugger windows, so after you shut down the debugger windows, you can shut this separator window and your previous windows are unaffected. It's a bit of a fiddle, but it does work. Hope this helps.

Code editor problem:

I run 3.3.1 v3356, which I only downloaded a few weeks ago, so I thought I had the latest one. Does the sp1 on your website now link to 3358 instead of 3356?

Search Box problem:
I tried everything you suggested, but paste still doesn't work. In fact, all the copy and paste functions on the Edit menu are greyed out as soon as you click in the search box on the Help tab.

Php extension problem:
I understand, but it's still a bit annoying that after you open a file like I said, the next time you open phpEd, you have to go find the workspace you were using before all over again. As phpEd doesn't open a workspace if it's asked to open a file, it might be nice to have it remember the last workspace regardless of how many files you opened in between. By that I mean, if phpEd can detect that it has been passed a file to open, then it leaves the last workspace name it has stored alone for the next time it is opened without being passed a filename. I'm not sure I explained that very well, but do you understand what I mean?

Line selection:
Yes, I realise that you can select lines like this, but that's what I was talking about when I said it was a real drag as you do end up setting breakpoints quite often instead or as well. What I meant was that if the line selection margin was in the code window rather than being doubled up with the breakpoint margin, then this problem could be avoided altogether. Most editor programs have this feature in the code window and IMHO it's one of the main usability features of an editor - to be able to select whole lines with one click, without having to drag the cursor.

Selecting a variable name:
I think I probably didn't explain this one too well. What I meant is that it would be nice to be able to select just the variable name without the $ (there are times where it would be more useful to do this). So I was just saying that it might be nice to have a settings option to be able to switch between selecting the $ or not.

Line wrapping:
This would be solved if there was a line selection gutter. As I find myself needing to select individual variables much more often than whole lines and, as the Double-Click line setting is an either/or setting, I find it more useful to have it switched off.

File/Folder uploading:
Yes, the File Explorer does have the option of downloading several files/folders at the same time, but it isn't linked to a particular project, so it doesn't know where to put the files/folders - you have to tell it where. It would be nice to be able to have a version of it linked to a project (perhaps on another tab) where you can select several files/folders in a project (at the moment you can only do one at a time via the right click menu on the workspace tab) and have them uploaded or downloaded to the same position in the website automatically. I'm probably asking too much here now, but it might be nice to have a feature similar to a dedicated ftp program where you can see both the local and remote versions of a website at the same time and be able to manipulate both sides. This might be the solution to the previous suggestion too.

Anyway, I'll look at collecting the screen shots for the other points for you tomorrow as I need some sleep now.

DebbieLeigh