This is Nuts! Newbie issues

[scotty2541]

I've been stipping my wheels for five days trying to learn this thing. While I'm supposed to be productive. The clock is ticking as to whether I say we buy a bunch of these or not.

Is there any newbie tutorial that doesnt assume you are loading project from GIT, have purchased ZEND server, or have a PHD in eclipse?

I created a new (supposed to be blank) PHP project. It had dozens of files in it. What are all those?

Why can't you simply 'Add a file to project' like every other normal IDE lets you do?

After copy/pasting code into the files in the project (why should I have to do that...?) I selected "profile' It said I needed to change 'perspective'. What the heck is a perspective? And now all the frames in the IDE are rearranged and I can't change it back. Do I have to uninstall and reinstall to to recover?

I pressed debug, it says invalid directory for http://localhost/Project1/test.php (yes, that's the name) Why does it want to load it from a folder that matches the name of the project?

How do I deploy it? Do I manually copy the files out of that folder to the root level of my web server (IIS for now, just for testing locally)? So I have to cherry pick the files that are needed from all the other config files in there?

How do I deploy the code? Do I manually copy the files out of that folder to the root level of my web server (IIS for now, just for testing locally)? So I have to cherry pick the files that are needed from all the other config files in there? if I can't debug from inside IIS (understandable), how do I just run it? Right now I have to make a change, manually copy it to the web root folder, test it in a browser, and repeat. I can just as easily use a text editor and edit the file directly in the web root folder.

So far, I can't see that I'm getting any advantage except a glorified text editor. And a lot more work sync'ing it to the web server root while I develop.

Is there a tutorial that can actually start from scratch?

-Scott

[sprocketlogic]

From your own experience and if you spend some time perusing this forum you will see that you are not alone. It doesn't get easier.

Save your money and try NetBeans (free), Komodo or phpStorm (both commercial).

[dcnicoll]

I'm having similar issues. They've told me the only support is available through case submissions and the forums. The case took 2 days to get a reply and it wasn't very helpful. I haven't received any comments from the forum and I find there's only 3 other people on the forms right now. I've tried NetBeans and phpDesigner8 and each also had issues. ZendStudio looks the most polished but I can't get started without a little more help.

[diemuzi]

@scotty2541

It seems you are simply having a learning curve difficulty and perhaps you're simply overwhelmed by the amount of features Zend Studio has to offer.

It sounds like when you started a new project you choose to use the Zend Framework option, therefore all those files are the base installation of the Zend Framework. If you don't plan on using this framework, then choose "Basic" when you are creating a new "Local PHP Project". This should only yield one file called index.php which is simply an example file and you can safely delete it.

As for adding files, you can either copy/paste from your machine into the project folder OR use the File -> Import option to add files to your new project.

Perspectives are how you would like to work within your project as each perspective offers different useability features. Regardless which one you choose, you can always close random tiles you won't be using and you can also move them around the screen to have a setup more suited for your needs. In the top right of your screen you'll see the current chosen perspective, you can also right click on the name and close it. You can also open different perspectives from the Window -> Open Perspective option.

I don't use the Debug options so perhaps someone else or some random tutorial online can help you with that.

To deploy your project simply use the Remote Server support. Right-Click on your project name and choose Remove Server Support and setup your FTP/SSH profile to push the files to your remote server. Can also be setup to upload files upon save.

I hope this will at least get you started. It was very confusing for me too when I started a long time ago but now it's quite easy.

[dcnicoll]

@diemuzi
Your comments are insightful and encouraging. My impression is the ZS will be a great development environment … if I can get the debug to work. My frustrations are:

1. There could be better introductory explanation. Because my introduction to ZS is 9.0.2, I wonder whether there has been significant enough changes and new material has not been produced. My initial problems were due to no understanding the project format. Although there are still odd things like Open Project and Close Project being greyed out. At what point do they become operative?

2. I’ve followed instructions and debug doesn’t work. This wouldn’t be so bad if I had access to some answers. The case support has been slow and minimalist and the forums have not (yet) been helpful. Maybe this is not a good environment for PHP newbie.

If I didn’t have such high expectations for ZS I would have moved on weeks ago.

Thanks for your comments

@scotty2541
Since we are having similar issues I will report back when I find answers. I had a Zend tech from Israel email me to say he’d help but it won’t be until next week.

[dcnicoll]

I thought I had hope when I saw that the 9.0.3 release dealt with debugger not working at startup. I updated my version but the debugger is still not working.

[scotty2541]

@diemuzi
Yes, it is a learning curve. With absolutely zero tutorial support for newbies. Every tutorial assumes some knowledge already, and typically rather high amount.

Other IDEs start with the most basic Hello World, or some flavor, and then do stuff like:
Compile it - here is your EXE...
Export your web pages, here is how they go to a server, or just to a local folder... and these are the files you need to run
Debug you three lines of hello world step by step this way...
etc. Build up from there.

All I see is go to your zend server, and run the framework for such and such... None of which I have to plan to use.

And assumes the user already has years of experience with Eclipse. Which normal IDEs (MPLab, IAR, VC, ...) don't use.

Thanks for your answers, but I have to say... it's really counter intuitive that EVERY file in a folder is assumed to be part of a project. Or even that the way to add it is to throw it into a folder. Make and Ant systems don't try to build every little scrap in the folder. You tell it specifically which files you want to be included. And then all those 'hidden' files that clutter it up so you have to cherry pick the files you want to publish.

The clock is ticking on this, and I have also downloaded PHPStorm, to do a comparison.

Thanks.

[dcnicoll]

Scotty,
I have found some solutions and so far it's working. See my posts:

Re: Debug not working: http://forums.zend.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=53013

Re: Open Project / Close Project: http://forums.zend.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=53193

I'm returning to programming from over a decade of being in another field. As I'm learning PHP I think an IDE is imperative (but maybe I'm too set in my old ways) and Zend Studio looks impressive. I'm hoping my initial hurdles with ZS are not indicative of the whole product.