VS.php ?? Plugin for VS.NET 2003 to develop PHP apps

[gigemboy]

Has anyone ever heard of this?? Or used this?? Looks interesting and would seriously consider it if I can find out if it actually works. Its allows you to develop PHP applications using the Visual Studio.NET IDE. Problem is, when you try to go to the manufacturer's site to get more information, www.jcxsoftware.com, you get nothing

You can find trial versions around, like here, but I dont want to download the trial, then find out I like it, then find out I can't get it....



P.S. Wasnt quite sure where to put this. I know there is a PHP forum, but it is not as active...

[RobDog888]

Looks like the site may be underconstruction still as the html code is there but nothing in the body.

This looks like something very interesting. Where did you get the download? I assume its free since there is no real site? Edit: didnt see the other link.

[gigemboy]

I edited my above post as you were typing it It was something I found while searching, not sure how I found it. Saw it on a trial page at a software site, see above for a link...

***EDIT - I remember.. it was while looking for VS.NET 2003 Trials for another thread that you had posted on http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=390999

[RobDog888]

Looks like they are just having issues with their server as you can buy the software from the first link and they do have multiple pages on their site but just not being served.

https://store6.esellerate.net/store/...ltiCatalog.htm

[RobDog888]

Guess its my fault.

The site even has a support forum but what good is it if you cant get to any of its pages. Doesnt buid any confidence in their product if you ask me. Especially with the $99 price tag.

Also, what if your running 2005? No support

[gigemboy]

good deal I feel better seeing a page that actually has their logo on it with software images hehe. Downloading a trial right now, should only be about 30-40 minutes on Dialup

***EDIT -we keep missing each other on these posts hehehe Im still gonna give it a try just to see...

[RobDog888]

Come on hurry up and test it out. I wanna know

I DL'd it in less then 4 minutes.

[gigemboy]

lol sorry. I took a break and watched a movie. I just installed it, havent ran it yet, but their site is up, you just cant get to it putting in the regular "vs.php" page... this is a link that they had on install, and best of all, looks like they have a new version for .NET 2.0 They also have support forums that are up, with a decent amount of posts and replies...

http://www.jcxsoftware.com/vs.php?info

[RobDog888]

Cool, I'll have to learn this too later after I get this site project going, time limit thing.

Thanks

[gigemboy]

Just did a modified "Hello World!" test (without any html headers or anything hehe), check out the page here:

http://www.redheadedlefty.com/phpTest/index1.php

It lets you target PHP 4 or PHP 5, and run and debug it locally. It starts an instance of Apache and shows the page when you debug it. When you start a new project in VS.NET, there is a new folder for "PHP Projects" (also a cool little icon added at the Visual Studio Splash screen that shows VS.PHP in the components). The basic page I did was first started locally, and debugged locally. Then in the properties you can configure a deployment server, where it uploads the files to. Configured it, and uploaded fine (although I had to first create the folder on my site, probably the result of some kind of permissions I have on it or something??), and the result of the deployment is what you see So so far, doing a little 5 minute example, everything seems to be working fine....

**EDIT - forgot to mention, had problems when first debugging it with crashes, it was due to Google Desktop running as well. Uninstalled Google Desktop, and it worked fine. I have had problems in the past with Google Desktop, with other crashes, and it didn't like this at all. So trash Google Desktop

[RobDog888]

Cool, I was going to install GD earlier to day but running behind schedule so no real time to play.

I think when I get my new system with 2005 going I will install 2003 with this plugin to it also. I think having separate systems for 2003 and 2005 may be more stable and less conflicting between framework versions. So until then (couple of weeks) I'll have to keep track of your progress.

[mendhak]

This is F-In brilliant.

It installs a stripped down version of Apache (perhaps an apache module) on your computer so that when you debug, a command window is used to launch IE and it remains there until you exit the app. And it uses a separate port number to run the pages so that it doesn't interfere elsewhere.

And tooltips. PHP tooltips!! I don't know if Chami had done this before, but to actually use the VS.NET environment for something like this, wow.

I think the asking price of $100 is well worth it for someone who develops in .NET as well as other languages including PHP.

[RobDog888]

I was considering buying it since its a fair price but it would have to be for writting a majority of php code in sites basically or is there a added benefit for integrating it into just any site?

I mean, if your using it in the .NET IDE then what are the advantages of this vs ASP.NET? I see mendhak says it installs a stripped down version of apache so its just another drain on your system.


Oh ya, note that Gig only found this plugin because of ME!

[gigemboy]

From a page on the site:

VS.Php help topics provides integrated php documentation inside the Visual Studio development environment

Have you found this documentation mendhak?? I can't seem to within the IDE, perhaps it isnt in the trial??

***EDIT

I mean, if your using it in the .NET IDE then what are the advantages of this vs ASP.NET? I see mendhak says it installs a stripped down version of apache so its just another drain on your system.

It only runs once you start debugging it, and stops once you end the debug session. If you were to do this on your own, you would have to have Apache running as well on your system in order to test your PHP code, and have it running all the time (or either keep switching it on and off)

[RobDog888]

Oh I can see it now, visualAd will want a PHP .NET Forum for this now

[gigemboy]

Also found that they have server-side debugging components that you can download to possibly debug it remotely:
http://www.jcxsoftware.com/jcx/?q=downloads

[RobDog888]

Just seen this for the .NET 2005 one -

Please note that the Visual Studio 2005 express editions are not supported.

Also, they can co exist side by side for the different versions but I would be afraid that if there was a issue they might say it was because 2003 and 2005 are running side by side (VS.php and not VS.NET ).

[penagate]

I mean, if your using it in the .NET IDE then what are the advantages of this vs ASP.NET?

advantage is, ASP.NET is hardly supported anywhere, whereas PHP is supported by just about all hosts and runs on more operating systems, and open source.

Product looks interestesting but I wouldn't want to pay the price just for a plugin to develop for a free platform. Notepad works fine for me

[RobDog888]

But it comes with the tooltips, integrated help file, debuggin features, etc.

Wel if your doing your own hosting or your provider has it available then whats an advantage of using php.net vs asp.net.

[gigemboy]

its not "php.net"... its just giving you the ability to create PHP pages in an IDE that you may already be familiar with....

[penagate]

There is no PHP.NET. As far as I can see this is merely a plugin to code PHP in the VS.NET IDE. It has no relation to the .NET framework itself.

As for PHP vs ASP if you are just using it to develop your own site then I don't really know of any major advantages to one or the other. But if you are developing a web product such as a content management system or forum software then PHP will give you a huge market as opposed to ASP.

[RobDog888]

I just coined the term "php.NET"

@PG are you meaning for sales, hosting, or better performing?

[penagate]

For a commercial product, a larger market as far more hosts support PHP than ASP, so you would expect greater sales. For a free product well then you'd just have the possibility of more widespread use. Choosing ASP instead would limit you in that regard.

Here is a comparison which mentions performance: PHP vs. ASP.NET

[...] what you gain in robustness, you pay for in efficiency. ASP.NET is expensive with respect to memory usage and execution time, which is due in large part to a longer code path. For Web-based applications, these limitations can be a serious problem, because on the Web, your application is likely to scale to thousands and thousands of users per second. Memory usage can also become an issue on your Web server.

That comparison also talks about PHP's object model. As of PHP 5, it does support OOP. Its implementation is slightly different to other languages and some (me included) will find the syntatic quirks awkward. But you can do things like inheritance, interfaces, abstract classes, etc. so it's on a par with a .NET language.

[RobDog888]

Pffft! That guys is so biased against ASP.NET. I even read his follow up article where he still bashes ASP.NET. I mean come on, hes an OpenSource advocate or such so why wouldnt he just love php (rhetorical)?

I did find the points about server memory loads and performance. Good points but then just beef up the server as prices and technology decrease/increase respectively, it wont be an issue.

[Kasracer]

Why not use PHP Designer? It's free, it's pretty and I believe it has all the features this has...

[gigemboy]

Well the point is that if you are familiar with the Visual Studio .NET IDE, then you will find this easy to work with... its just geared towards those people that program a lot in .NET and would like the ability to use the same IDE to write PHP pages. Why use Visual Studio .NET instead of Sharp Develop when Sharp Develop is free?? Theres a lot of reasons for it... main reason for it is the superiority of the Visual Studio IDE..., and there are reasons against it ($$$).. same for everything else..

[penagate]

I did find the points about server memory loads and performance. Good points but then just beef up the server as prices and technology decrease/increase respectively, it wont be an issue.

True, but you still have less scalability when loads are higher. As in it will take a more powerful ASP server to do what a less powerful PHP server could do, so you lose some advantage of having a better server.

Also, there is security to consider, this is obviously a top priority when developing a web-based application. He mentions that IIS is less secure than Apache. I'm not sure how true all this is but it's a factor to think about one way or the other.

Pffft! That guys is so biased against ASP.NET. I even read his follow up article where he still bashes ASP.NET. I mean come on, hes an OpenSource advocate or such so why wouldnt he just love php (rhetorical)?

I did find another article here
http://uk.builder.com/webdevelopment...0283074,00.htm

possibly that is less biased. I'm reading it now.

Edit: No, it's crap.

[Kasracer]

Well the point is that if you are familiar with the Visual Studio .NET IDE, then you will find this easy to work with... its just geared towards those people that program a lot in .NET and would like the ability to use the same IDE to write PHP pages. Why use Visual Studio .NET instead of Sharp Develop when Sharp Develop is free?? Theres a lot of reasons for it... main reason for it is the superiority of the Visual Studio IDE..., and there are reasons against it ($$$).. same for everything else..

PHP Designer was developed to look and act similiar to Visual Studio. SharpDevelop just plain sucks (extremely buggy) and is written in .Net so it's slower than VisualStudio.

[RobDog888]

I'll give your the server performance point but IIS 7 is also coming out very soon so hopefully there will be big security and performance gains.

It also mentioned that you can run IIS and Apache in series for the added security but you will still loose when you take the scalibility factor in.

[visualAd]

The plugin looks good. If you have VS.NET that is . I don't have it and have no plans to buy it so I guess the plugin will be of little use. I am always keeping my eye open for a PHP IDE, one which supports PHP 5 and more importantly one which I can install on my USB drive and carry around with me.

One of the drawbacks with IIS is again its tight integration with Windows. IMO, no web server software should be intergrated into the operating system, ideally it should be sandboxed and locked away on a separate dedicated machine. This in itself makes IIS less secure because if one can take advantage of an exploit the attacker immediatly has access to the system as a priviledged user.

Kasracer, i am going to have a look at PHP Designer

[RobDog888]

That makes sense Adam as all the same "issues" that are brought about from having IE integrated into Explorer etc.

Still, I like MS and guess just dont like to change Some part of it is the fact that its easy to use and follows the Windows methods and standards so its more easy and familiar. I'm sure there are plus' and minus' for that point but there are probably the same for the standalone web servers too.

[vsphp]

Guys,

I appreciate your interest in VS.Php. We are releasing VS.Php 2.0 this week. It supports Visual Studio 2005. I want to highlight some of the reasons why VS.Php is a product you should consider for your php development:

- Rich intellisense support with PhpDoc integration
- Debug locally with no need to know how to set up Php
- Debug Php and JavaScript in one session... no other IDE can do this
- Edit Smarty files with intellisense support
- Ftp, Sftp deployment
- Integrated help
- Great support and one year of free updates

Overall, if you are a .Net developer and you need to do Php development, you should look seriously at VS.Php.

Regards,

VS.Php team
www.jcxsoftware.com

[gigemboy]

How about I get some referral cash for spreadin the word or a free copy... hook a programmer up hehehehe

[Kasracer]

Guys,

VS.Php team
www.jcxsoftware.com

You're spamming our forum with advertisements. I think we should get free copies for being subjected to this

That or ban!

[RobDog888]

Guys,

I appreciate your interest in VS.Php. We are releasing VS.Php 2.0 this week. It supports Visual Studio 2005. I want to highlight some of the reasons why VS.Php is a product you should consider for your php development:

- Rich intellisense support with PhpDoc integration
- Debug locally with no need to know how to set up Php
- Debug Php and JavaScript in one session... no other IDE can do this
- Edit Smarty files with intellisense support
- Ftp, Sftp deployment
- Integrated help
- Great support and one year of free updates

Overall, if you are a .Net developer and you need to do Php development, you should look seriously at VS.Php.

Regards,

VS.Php team
www.jcxsoftware.com

I got one for you, How come your site was down the other day? It was down for a while. What if we needed support like we did? Is there email support also?

[vsphp]

We were moving the site from Xoops to Drupal. Xoops was breaking down on us and it stopped working completely on Saturday. Anyways, the good news is that now is using a much stable CMS solution.

As for email support, use this link: http://www.jcxsoftware.com/jcx/?q=feedback

[RobDog888]

Thanks for the explaination. I know some had questions and concerns on this.