Working with Existing Projects

Running my existing work within VS.PHP was a no-brainer. I created a new VS.PHP project, added the PHP files from the old project as Add Existing Items, set a start page, and hit F5. VS.PHP had the smarts to create the run path and respect all include files.

Unlike Visual Studio .NET, VS.PHP does not use IIS as its web engine. Rather, it uses either the PHP4 or PHP5 engine directly without any need for IIS. If you don't like it, you aren't stuck; itt's very easy to change engines in VS.PHP by selecting an engine from a drop-down. In other development environments, I've had to configure IIS to work with PHP files; under VS.PHP that irritation is avoided altogether. This is a big savings in my aspirin budget.

Speaking of aspirin savings, the startup process was blissfully easy. VS.PHP downloads as a Windows MSI file. The setup was a standard MSI install format, and no configuration was required. I simply added a PHP file as a New Item from the Solution Explorer, just as I would do were I working in a C# or VB project. Once I got my code into the file, I hit my F5 key and VS.PHP fired my project up into an Internet Explorer window. VS.PHP installs its own versions of the PHP4 and PHP5 engines and configure them automatically during set up. This was quite refreshing given the problems I have had with other PHP IDEs.

All is not perfect, however. One of the tool's advertised features is FTP deployment, which I was anxious to explore. I configured the Visual Studio 2003 deployment section of the Project:Properties dialog to deploy to the FTP server on my local computer. VS.PHP reported the the files were uploaded. However, when I checked the FTP directory for the uploaded files, none were to be found. I tried to do a remote upload. I experienced the same error. However, later after restarting the IDE, FTP deployment worked as advertised.

When I contacted the folks at JCX Software, the company acknowledged episodes of buggy behavior on FTP deployment under VS2003, requiring an IDE restart. The company claims that this bug has been fixed in the upcoming 2.0 version, which also promises to make VS.PHP completely VS 2005 compliant and add support of Smarty templates (a PHP technology, similar to the ASP.NET code behind architecture, in which application logic is separated from application presentation).

VS.PHP costs $99, which covers licenses for both the VS2003 and VS2005 versions. Also, when you buy the present version of VS.PHP you get an upgrade to the 2.0 version at no additional cost. The whole pricing structure is a steal. You get a whole lot of programming tool for the money.

VS.PHP is a strong tool and an extraordinarily cost-effective way to program in PHP, particularly for jack-of-all-trades programmers who already use Visual Studio. VS.PHP offers the versatility and feature-rich aspect of Visual Studio code editing, with a broad range of features available in VS.PHP. At $99 a seat, plus the cost of a copy of Visual Studio, this product is a definite asset to any PHP programmer's toolbox. This software will make a difference in how PHP code is created today, and for a good while to come.