PHP Projects 

The NetBeans project offers a version of the IDE tailor-made for developing PHP web sites that comprise a variety of scripting and mark-up languages. PHP developers do not need to install the full Java Development Kit (JDK) to run the NetBeans PHP IDE, the standard Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is sufficient.

The PHP editor is dynamically integrated with HTML, JavaScript and CSS editing features, and the JavaScript und Xdebug debuggers. Focus on the code and speed up code scanning by excluding individual directories in the Project properties. The NetBeans IDE fully supports iterative development, so testing PHP projects follows the classic patterns familiar to web developers.

PHP Source Code Editor 

The NetBeans PHP editor offers code templates and generation (Getters and Setters), refactoring (Instant Rename), parameter tooltips, hints and quick fixes (Implement All Abstract Methods), and smart code completion (including bracket completion). Benefit from syntactic and semantic code highlighting, pop-up documentation, code formating and folding, and marking of occurrences and exit points.

The PHP editor understands namespaces and variable type definitions in comments which improves code completion and hyperlink navigation. The Editor recognizes PHP code including heredoc notation in PHP projects and in PHTML, YAML, and PHP files, including the latest PHP 5.3.
PHP Namespace Support

Easy Code Navigation

Use the navigator window or the Go To Type, Go To File, Go To Symbol, Go To Declaration, Find Usages menu items for easy code navigation in large projects. The editor warns about potential code problems by flagging them and giving an hint in a pop-up. A tasks window lists all warnings in the project, making it easy to find and resolve problems.

Symfony Framework 

Create a new PHP project based on the Symfony framework. Filter and view help for Symfony commands, specify command parameters, preview the whole command, and run it. You can also assign shortcuts to commands. Depending on the project, the list includes either Doctrine or Propel commands.
Symfony Framework Support

Code Coverage 

Generate a Code Coverage report for PHP files to see how well your test cases cover your code: Covered statements are marked green in the editor, statements that haven't been executed during the test are marked red. The evaluation is based on the number of executable statements, lines with white space and comments do not distort the result.

PHP Unit Testing 

Create PHPUnit tests and Selenium test cases for files or folders, run tests, and view test results. In the PHPUnit properties you can define a custom XML configuration file, a bootstrap file for command line options, or a custom test suite, or you can let the IDE generate skeleton code for you. Use a keyboard shortcut to navigate quickly between test and tested class.
Testing with PHPUnit and Selenium

PHP Debugging

Debug PHP code using Xdebug: You can inspect local variables, set watches, set breakpoints, and evaluate code live. Navigate to declarations, types and files using Go To shortcuts and hypertext links. Use a global PHP include path for all projects or customize it per project.

The NetBeans IDE for PHP also offers command-line debugging: The PHP program output appears in a command line display in the IDE itself and you can inspect the generated HTML without having to switch to a browser.

You can debug scripts and web pages, either locally or remotely. The NetBeans PHP debugger integration allows you to map server paths to local paths to enable remote debugging.

Remote and Local Project Development 

PHP projects can easily be deployed from within NetBeans IDE for testing to local or remote servers via FTP or SFTP, or by the use of an upload script for more complex deployments. You can easily create a new project from remote sources, and the IDE will upload your changes automatically when you save a file. Run the project as a local web site, as a command line script, or as a remote web application via FTP or SFTP.

MySQL Integration 

PHP developers can also look forward to working with MySQL. The Insert Code command provides a Database Table option that creates the code needed to execute a SELECT statement in MySQL. Open a window to make changes to MySQL tables, select individual table cells with the mouse, and edit them directly.