While PhpStorm has a start (green ‘play’ icon) button for console and linear web applications, it is awkward when using XDebug and WordPress especially when dealing with structures. It departs from traditional IDEs that feature start and stop buttons that automatically open your web browser to kick off a debug process. Starting PhpStorm’s web debugging is a bit awkward and somewhat cumbersome when you use it for the first time in a given project. PhpStorm’s web debugging is a bit awkward … Despite this clumsy process, the user interface for debugging is significantly faster than Netbeans and well worth the initial burden. Once acclimated, users will find debugging quick, robust and even more responsive than Netbeans’ typical debugging sessions. In this post, I will help you simplify the initial setup process of using PhpStorm with DesktopServer to give you a fast and professional IDE for WordPress development. However, first setup is a challenge as placement of user interface elements is less than intuitive. Since WordPress ‘template tags’ are just PHP functions, PhpStorm can make working with WordPress fast.
It also provides all the common editing features you would expect to find in a professional IDE: code folding, code completion, debugging with breakpoints and step functions, variable watch lists and inspectors, and multiple disciplines for syntax highlighting (JavaScript, HTML, PHP, etc.) with an emphasis on PHP. Like Netbeans, it works with either DesktopServer Limited or DesktopServer Premium editions. While still requiring a Java runtime, PhpStorm feels much faster than eclipse or even the lighter weight Netbeans IDE.
As a commercial product, you will find the runtime to be fast and what you would expect from a well written commercial native application. PhpStorm is a cross-platform, IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that delivers a feature packed, fast, and efficient user interface for debugging and code editing.