A template project which can be used to create PHP projects. This template is used to teach you how to setup a PHP development environment in general and to setup Apache NetBeans specifically.
composer.json: Used to set the libraries at which the project depends on. Also, used to set package information if the package will be published to https://packagist.org.phpunit.xml: Configuration file which is used to configure PHPUnit.php_cs.php: Coding standards fixer configuration file. Used to set rules.
In addition to the given files, the root can hold more configuration files. For example, you might use some continuous integration service (such as Travis CI) or code quality tools (such as SonarCloud). In this case, configuration files can be placed at the root.
The structure that I like to go with is the following:
srcFolder.testsFolder.vendorFolder.
The folder src contains the actual project code at which the developer will write. Always kept under source control. The folder tests Contains PHPUnit test classes. Kept under source control but outside the tar archive using .gitattributes since tests usually are not needed in stable releases. You will notice that the folder has one file inside it which is bootstrap.php. It is basically a file that contains code that will get executed before the actual testing code. The folder vendor contains the libraries at which the project depends on. Downloaded using composer.
Note that the steps which are shown here applies to Windows OS. There might be some differences in different OSs.
The first step in setting up your IDE for PHP applications development is to specify the location of your interpreter. I recomend that you install the interpreter as part of some AMP stack. AMP stands for "Apache, MySQL & PHP". As for me, I prefer to use a stack which is called Bitnami WAMP (The W means Windows OS). For more information on installation, check here.
Assuming that the stack is installed on C:\Server, then PHP interpreter will be at C:\Server\php. To setup the path to PHP interpreter in Apache NetBeanse, select Tools > Options from main menu. In the window that will appear, make sure that you are in the tab General. In this tab, you can set the path to your PHP interpreter (which is C:\Server\php\php.exe in my case) .
Composer is basically an application which is used to download and install libraries or frameworks that your project depends on. For example, you might need a library which generates QR codes. Simply, you include the name of the library in your composer.json file and right click your project and select composer from the menu and hid "Update".
Before using composer in Apache NetBeans, first you need to download composer.phar Archive from https://getcomposer.org/download/ . Once the archive is downloaded, copy the archive somewhere in your workspace. In Apache NetBeans IDE, select Tools > Options. In the window that will appear, select PHP. After that, go to the tab Frameworks & Tools. From the list on the left side, select Composer. In the window that will appear, specify the path to your composer.phar archive. Once specified, you can run composer commands without issues.
PHP Unit is a unit testing framework which is used to automate the process of testing PHP applications. If your application is well designed, it will be easy to automate testing (specially for backend part). Before using PHP unit, PHP unit archive must be downloaded. There are many versions of PHP unit. Each one is used to test code for different PHP versions. You can check here for more information.
Once the archive is downloaded, put it somewhere in your workspace. Once you do that, open Apache NetBeans IDE. From the main menu, select Tools > Options. In the window that will appear, select PHP. After that, go to the tab Frameworks & Tools. From the list on the left side, select PHPUnit. In the window that will appear, specify the path to your phpunit.phar archive. Once specified, you are done.
Note that for each project, there are 3 additional things that must be setup to be able to run tests:
- Enable PHP Unit on the project.
- Sepecify tests folder.
- Set the configuration to
phpunit.xml.
To setup the 3, right click the project and select Properties. From the side menu, select Testing. Then add the folder teses to the box in the top. After that, enable PHPUnit by checking the box at the bottom. Once finished, select PHPUnit from the side menu. In the window that will appear, specify the path to your phpunit.xml Configuration. If done, you will be able to run tests by right clicking your project and hitting Test.