Member Avatar for amy.damnit

Hi, this is my first post here at DaniWeb, so be gentle! :icon_smile:

I am trying to learn PHP, but first want to set up an IDE on my MacBook, because others have said it will speed up the learning process.

I installed Eclipse PDT All-In-One v2.0.0M2 and it seems to work, but the "code completion" and "function list" features don't work.

Without those features working, I might as well use TextEdit?!

What am I doing wrong??

Thanks,


Amy

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by shanimal

Dani AI

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This thread already has the right starting points: flagged distro/version differences, pointed out PDT’s assist settings and manual invocation, and noted quirks when PDT is bundled inside other distributions. The suggestions below add targeted diagnostics and quick fixes that are often missed.

First, isolate the problem. Create a fresh, minimal PHP project and a single small .php file so the editor/indexer has nothing else to confuse it. Force a workspace rebuild (Project -> Clean...) and check the Error Log view for indexer exceptions. If a new workspace + clean project gives completion, the original workspace metadata or a specific plugin is the culprit.

Second, confirm the project has PHP nature and that external libraries you rely on are on the PHP include path for that project. Missing include paths or an incorrect project PHP version can leave PDT unable to infer types or show built-in signatures. If you rely on framework classes or DB wrappers, add their source (or stubs) to the include path so the indexer can see them.

Third, use PHPDoc to give the indexer explicit type hints where automatic inference fails. Examples:

/** @var PDO $db */
$db->

/**
 * @return MyClass
 */
function maker() { ... }

Those annotations dramatically improve completions for variables and returned objects.

If none of the above helps, try a clean install of Eclipse plus the official PDT package (avoid mixed/old plugin packs), or use NetBeans as a comparator. When PDT inside other bundles (Aptana, etc.) fails, plugin-version mismatches are a frequent cause — checking the Error Log and trying a clean workspace will quickly confirm that.

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Member Avatar for martin5211

That's weird, the question is from which address was downloaded the PHP Developer Tools. There is a version from Zend based on the latest Eclipse 3.4 that could work. Try this:

http://www.zend.com/en/community/pdt

Member Avatar for shanimal

That's weird, the question is from which address was downloaded the PHP Developer Tools. There is a version from Zend based on the latest Eclipse 3.4 that could work. Try this:

http://www.zend.com/en/community/pdt

Thought I would post this for students...

control+space :) or

Eclipse > Preferences > PHP > Editor > Code Assist > Auto Activation
Check "Enable..." and set the time in milliseconds before it activates

Cheers!

Member Avatar for Stefano Mtangoo

and In my PDT installed in Aptana, there were no auto completion for MySQL functions. Hope that is fixed now. I have switched to netbeans for now

Member Avatar for shanimal

oh, and you can enable code complete (the tooltip bubble) by pressing control+shift+space

hope this is helpful...

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