NetBeans IDE facilitates our daily PHP application development activities with the following:
Creating and managing projects: The IDE for PHP enables us to create PHP projects, and helps to grow the project. It can perform project-related settings and operations; that is, creating documentation for the project, testing the project, and so on.
Editing features for the source code: The code editor comes with an exciting collection of source-editing capabilities within the PHP project scope. It empowers faster code writing with the following features:
Syntax highlighting enables highlighting PHP syntax in project files.
Code folding enables the folding and unfolding of selected classes and method codes within the current file.
Navigation helps to explore classes and methods in the current PHP file.
Code templates help in using predefined code snippets.
Parameter hints give information about the formal parameters of a method where the method is called.
Formatting provides auto code formatting in the current file.
Bracket completion adds/removes paired quotes, parentheses, and braces during code writing.
Mark occurrences marks all the occurrences of a code string within the opened project files.
Error detection shows the PHP parsing error immediately after typing is finished.
Pair matching highlights matched pair of quotes, braces, parentheses, and so on.
Semantic highlighting identifies the keywords, method names, call, unused variables, and so on.
Go to declaration sends the cursor to where the chosen type is declared.
Instant rename renames all occurrences of a variable within its scope.
Code documentation helps with an automatic documentation structure.
Deploying the project: Provides synchronization within the PHP project content, with remote server content.
Database and services: Provides support for database management and web services.
SCM tools: Provides source code management tools, such as Git, Subversion, CVS, and Mercurial, built-in for source code versioning, tracking changes, and so on.
Running PHP scripts: Enables the parsing of PHP scripts, and yields output within the IDE without going to the browser.
Debugging the source code: You can inspect local variables, set watches, set breakpoints, and evaluate the code, live. You can also perform command-line debugging, and check the PHP output in the IDE without going to the browser, which provides competence for remote debugging.
Supporting PHP frameworks: It also offers the support for popular PHP frameworks, such as the Zend Framework and Symfony.
Note
Comparison of integrated development environments for PHP can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_integrated_development_environments#PHP.
Before we proceed with downloading the latest version, let's have a look into the recommended system requirements of various platforms for installing and running the NetBeans IDE:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7 Professional:
Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium IV or equivalent
Memory: 2 GB
Disk space: 1 GB of free disk space
Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium IV or equivalent
Memory: 2 GB
Disk space: 850 MB of free disk space
Processor: Dual-Core Intel (32 or 64-bit)
Memory: 2 GB
Disk space: 850 MB of free disk space