ECLIPSE + PHP + ANYEDIT

When it comes to programming and web development, choosing the right editor really makes all the difference. While searching for an editor, I looked for reliability, open community and lots plugins - that been said, only two words come to mind... Eclipse Galileo. Out of the box, Eclipse Galileo comes with editing support for PHP, XML, HTML, JavaScript, CSS and even Java and file extensions such PHP include files. Download Eclipse Galileo from here.

Syntax Coloring

To change the syntax coloring, (Windows) go to Window > Preferences and on the left side, collapse PHP > Editor and click on Syntax Coloring.

Indentation & Spacing

As a programmer, I find non-indented code and/or excessive blank spaces a real pain to read. Thankfully, there is a good plugin to handle indentation and spacing, called AnyEdit. This plugin will allow us to automatically convert tabs into spaces so that if you decide to open a file on different editor the indentation is consistent, automatically remove extra white space at the end of each line and to automatically create a new line at the end of each file; which sometimes missing this extra line causes PHP to be displayed incorrectly.

AnyEdit Installation & Setup

Download AnyEdit from here or install the plugin directly from Eclipse by using this URL http://andrei.gmxhome.de/eclipse/ as the location. Make sure to download the version under Eclipse 3.3 - 3.5 plugins.

To setup AnyEdit go to Window > Preferences, then expand General > Editors and then click on AnyEdit Tools. I personally use the following settings. Under the Auto - Convert tab, tick these checkboxes: "Remove trailing whitespace", "Create new line at the end of the file" and "Convert tabs <-> spaces". Also, under Default convert mode on save select the Tabs to spaces radio button. Under the Convert tab, type 2 for the "Tab width/number of space for tab" and tick the "Remove trailing whitespace while 'convert' actions".

Text Editor Setup

Go to Window > Preferences, then expand General > Editors and the click on Text Editors. Under "Displayed tab width" type 2, and tick these checkboxes: "Insert spaces for tabs" and "Show print margin", also set the "Print margin column" to 80.