UBB.Developers Forums Community Development Programming PHP and Server-side Scripting PHP editor that highlights current { }

Wondering if anyone knows of a PHP editor for windows that will highlight or something like that, the active [:"red"] { [/] (whatever you call those).

OK, you didnt understand me , this is what I mean:
If you have something such as

[:"blue"] if (blah=blahblah){
dog = cat
if (this=that) {ahm=ehm}
} [/]

So if you have your cursor

[:"blue"] if (blah=blahblah){
dog = cat
if (this=that) { [:"red"]cursor is here[/] ahm=ehm}
} [/]

then it displays something like this:
[:"blue"] if (blah=blahblah){
dog = cat
if (this=that) [:"red"] {ahm=ehm} [/]
} [/]

or if you had your cursor:
[:"blue"] if (blah=blahblah){ [:"red"]cursor is here[/]
dog = cat
if (this=that) {ahm=ehm}
} [/]
then it would show as:
[:"blue"] if (blah=blahblah) [/] [:"red"] {
dog = cat
if (this=that) {ahm=ehm}
}[/]


Does that make sense? I am going crazy trying to modify some things. Plus, I´m new in this. Does such a program exist? It should! It would make it easier in finding what affects what.

I haven't set this up yet but you may want to have a look.

http://www.phpedit.net/

Thanks for the link!

This one sort of does it, it highlights the { and } for half a second when you click on one. You´ve gotta be paying real attention and you need both in the screen to see them... Maybe there is a preference in there to show it for a longer time. Thanks, will play around with it.

visual slick edit does I believe (not free) also take a look at nedit if you are on a linux box with Xwindows or on a windows box with cygwin and Xwindows. nedit is free but a pain in the rear to use on Windows.

I'm a big fan of Textpad. You have to add the extensions for PHP to the "C / C++" document class, but it pretty much does what you're asking since the syntax is so similar.

There's also a bunch of other editing features in Textpad that I like, on top of what you're looking for.

My two cents.

Uhm... unless I am missing something in TextPad, it does not do it.
Im not just looking for code highlighting with colors... yes, there are tons of those.
I want one that when you click on opening bracket [:"red"]{[/] will tell me (by highlight, bold, blink or whatever) where the closing bracket is at [:"red"]}[/]. This would make it much more easy to find what bracket affects what in the code.

TextPad, as far as I can tell, only highlights code, but does not do this. I couldnt get Visual Slick Edit to do it either, though I havent had too much time to play with that one.
So far the only one I see can do it is phpedit, though it only highlits for a second, and if the other bracket is further down the screen then tough luck, you dont see it.

PFE (Programmer's File Editor) has this feature. If you place the cursor before one of { }, CTRL-B will move the cursor to the matching brace. It also works with the other delimiters, like parentheses. PFE is kind of outdated and no longer maintained (although it works well enough for me), but if you're interested, I think it's still available here.

Ultraedit does this, very similar to how Dave_L described. You put the cursor anywhere and press CTRL+B and it highlights the next set of braces. You can start at the top of the page and just CTRL+B all the way down the page to see all of the braces and what is included between them. It's shareware, $35 to register after 45 days. They have a Spanish, French, and German version as well.

I use this exclusively for text editing now. I love that it is as easy to use as notepad, but it has spellcheck, color coding for php, html, xml, etc., and you can add other languages. It also has a hex editor. And my favorite part is that it has basic ftp built in, so after I make a change I can just save directly to the website through ftp.

Anytime I'm working on the website I always have Beyond Compare, UltraEdit, and DreamWeaver open.

Ahá!!!

There we go!!! Yes!
I used to use UltraEdit till I got feed up with it for having the toolbox dissapear every once in a while. Never knew that CTRL-B would do that! Wow!

Your hint on how to do it made me realize TextPad also does it, its Ctrl-M.

Aaaah, this is coooooool, glad I asked.

I used PFE for a loooong time. Stil have it on all of my machines. I moved to ultra edit when PFE was nto longe updated. I like that I an at Ultra Edit is really responsive and has answered any of my emails personally. I like being able to add definitions files ( or whatever they are called ) and syntax is highlighted according to my definitions in the color I want. I really liked nedit on my linux box but it's a little bit more complex to use. I still haven't managed to get KDE working on my Win2k box yet so I rarely use it. I do have TWM working and Nedit does seem to run ok on that. I've been eyeing Visual Slick Edit as our OT guys use that. Looks really cool to me.