Better auto-completion

[jaredhite1]

Hello-
I write a lot of classes in PHP, and usually have a bit of a complex object model. I've been disappointed at the inability of every editor I try to "figure out" what types variables are beyond the very simple case of:

PHP Code:

$x = new MyClass(); 


Does anybody know of any editors that can do this a bit smarter? Something like this:

PHP Code:

class Test1
{
    var $t1member;
} 
class Test2
{
    var $t2member;
}
$t1 = new Test1();
$t1->t1member = array();
$t1->t1member[0] = new Test2(); 


Now from here on out, I would like my IDE to have figured out that Test1.t1member is an array of Test2 objects, and respond with intellisense options appropriately after typing something like "$t1->t1member[17]->". Not just for $t1, but for any object of type or inheriting from type Test1.
Continuing code...

PHP Code:

$t1->t1member[0]->t2member = "hello world";
$x = $t1->t1member[0]->t2member; 


And here I would expect my IDE to know that $x is probably a string type.

Does anybody know of any editors with this kind of capability? I've about given up, so I'm currently writing my own. If I were to do so and include the other standard features you see in other editors (ftp, collapsible side/bottom panels, complex find/replace in files, syntax highlighting, interactive debugging, etc.), would anybody be interested enough to buy it if it were reasonably priced?

Thanks for recommendations and opinions,
Jared

[Jcx.Software]

VS.Php 2.0 introduced support for array intellisense. Not only learns about the array entries you have used but also about their types.

If you don't own Visual Studio, don't worry as we are planning to release a standalone version in the near future.

Here is a demo of VS.Php array intellisense support:

http://www.jcxsoftware.com/vsphp/tut...tellisense.htm

[jaredhite1]

I tried the demo of VS.Php and really liked it...Of all the editors I've tried, it was my favorite. It had a couple of bugs that stopped me from making the purchase though. In one case, typing "->" after a certain variable in my code would close visual studio altogether, with no error message, exception or anything :-) Also I found that working with folders within projects didn't work as I expected, although I think that may be a vs bug more than the plug-in. And, obviously, at the time it lacked the type inference capability I was seeking. But I thought that it's handling of "references" and includes was better than anything else on the market, which makes it a very strong contender. I am primarily a .NET programmer, so the VS requirement is a plus in my book.

That array business looks pretty good...But I'm still not convinced it's as powerful as I'm looking for.

The first concern is that usually you fill arrays using variables, not explicit indexes. So will it make the assumption that the array values are all of the same type when it can't figure out an index? IMHO, that would be the way to go.

Thanks!
Jared