<info>This is an HelpML formatted XML document. To get the full experience of HelpML we recommend using a help viewer. For more information about viewing HelpML files you can visit the <a href="http://www.helpml.org/viewers">official website</a>.</info>
<topics>
<topic>
<title>Getting Started</title>
<keywords>start help</keywords>
<content>Thanks for downloading PHP Studio. This help file is designed to walk you through getting up and running with the program, as well as acquainting you with some of the more advanced features. If you haven't done so already, copy the PHP Studio application onto your hard drive.
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PHP Studio is a powerful, full featured, and intuitive PHP code editor that allows you to write and test your code with ease. With features like a live-updating function drawer, integrated auto complete, powerful syntax coloring, and a clean interface, you will quickly feel right at home using PHP Studio. Read on to learn more about how PHP Studio can accelerate your workflow.</content>
<content>PHP Studio features all of the standard editing features you have come to expect from an editor today. You can jump to any line by choosing Go To Line from the Edit menu. You can also shift the selection a tab level left or right, also accessible from the corresponding menu items in the Edit menu. In the Preferences, you can set PHP Studio to maintain indentation between lines. This means that when you press return, the next line will begin at the same tab level as the previous one.<br/><img src="screenshots/GoTo.png" alt="" />
In addition, you can Clean your document, stripping it of all comments and non-necessary whitespace. This is useful if you need to optimize file sizes, etc. You can access the Clean function from the toolbar or the Tools menu.<br/><br/>
Searching in PHP Studio is very robust, offering two incredibly easy options. You can either use the searchfield attached to every document, found in the upper right of the toolbar, or the full-blown Find panel, found in the Find menu.
The searchfield will locate and select any matches for the specified text. Press return to find the first result, and subsequent presses will jump to the next result and so on. The full panel allows you to use Regular Expressions in your searches. It uses the Oniguruma framework and specification for this.
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</topic>
<topic>
<title>Function Drawer</title>
<keywords>index</keywords>
<content>Arguably the most innovative feature in PHP Studio is the Function Drawer, a drawer that sits on the side of your document showing you, in real time, all of your functions. Paramaters are listed below the functions, and you can display a list of variables contained in the function by selecting it. To insert a variable, simply double click it.<br/><img src="screenshots/Drawer.png" alt="" />
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</topic>
<topic>
<title>Syntax Coloring</title>
<keywords>browse</keywords>
<content>PHP Studio sports full syntax coloring to make your documents more readable. Syntax coloring simply highlights certain specific elements of your code, such as comments, keywords, functions, and numbers so that it is more readable and sections can easily be distinguished from one another. Of course, the coloring is fully customizable via the Syntax Coloring pane in the Preferences window(accessible from the PHP Studio menu).<br/><img src="screenshots/ColorPrefs.png" alt="" />
</content>
</topic>
<topic>
<title>Auto Complete</title>
<keywords>search find look up</keywords>
<content>Auto Complete allows you to see suggestions for what function you may be typing, as you type it. PHP Studio has been fitted with all 3,000+ PHP functions. Simply begin typing a function, and press Escape for PHP Studio to bring up a list of matching options. Alternatively, you can make this list appear automatically as you typein the Auto Complete preference pane in the Preferences (accessible from the PHP Studio menu), instead of having to open it manually.<br/><img src="screenshots/AutoComplete.png" alt="" />
</content>
</topic>
<topic>
<title>Testing</title>
<keywords>multiple index batch</keywords>
<content>PHP Studio gives you a few options to test and ensure your code works. You can press the Compile toolbar button (or choose Compile from the Tools menu) to have your code checked. If there are errors, you will hear a beep (sounds can be enabled/disabled from the Preferences) and you will be taken to the line where there is an error. When there is no error, you will hear a chiming noise and "No Syntax Errors" will be displayed in the status bar. Executing your code both checks the syntax and actually runs it, displaying the results in a window. If the code is valid, the window will appear -- otherwise you will be notified of the problem. If your code contains an Include statement, where you wish to include functions from external documents, the Execute function needs to write a temporary file in the same directory as the file you are working on. If you use Include statements, please ensure that you can write to the directory your file is in.</content>
</topic>
<topic>
<title>PHP Help</title>
<keywords>advanced</keywords>
<content>PHP Studio offers two methods for reading and looking up documentation on PHP. Both of these are accessible from the Help menu. The PHP Function Browser provides a list of the PHP functions. Start typing in the searchfield to narrow down the list. Press the arrow button next to a function name to display the documentation for the function in the PHP Help Browser.
You can also read documentation in the PHP Help Browser, which provides a convient browser for the official PHP documentation. These tools can be very useful while writing PHP code, and they help to centralize the process.</content>
</topic>
<topic>
<title>Advanced Use</title>
<keywords>advanced</keywords>
<content>Now that you are thoroughly familiar with the basic functionality of the application, we can discuss some of its more advanced capabilities. The Export toolbar icon (or Export in the Tools menu) allows you to save your code as syntax colored HTML. This is useful if you are posting it online for others to read.
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You can modify the encodings of the documents you are working with by choosing an encoding type from the pop up inside the General Preferences. The selected encoding will be used for both reading and writing documents. Generally, it is optimal to use Unicode.
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Finally, you can specify some text that you wish to be displayed in all new documents. Inside the General Preferences you can type in the New Files text field to set this text.</content>
