From Triangle Wiki

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Important Directories 3 Setting Up Aptana 4 License Key 5 Aptana Module Setup 6 Third Party Module Setup 7 Aptana Preferences 7.1 General Section 7.2 End Of Line Characters (EOL) 7.3 PHP Formatting 8 Project Creation 9 Stop Temporary Files Being Created 10 Beta Versions 11 External Links

Introduction

Triangle Solutions developers all use Aptana IDE to develop first rate web applications and software. This document provides a checklist of how to set up Aptana for the ultimate Rapid PHP Prototyping developer experience.

Important Directories

On MAC OSX Aptana stores settings in:

• ~/Users/user/Library/Application Support/Aptana - Contains configuration settings
• /Applications/Aptana Studio - Core files for the application
• The workspace directory - holds information regarding panel / window perspectives and preferences

Please let me know about locations for other OS

Setting Up Aptana

Firstly close down all the panels until you are left with Project and Outline as shown in the image to the right.

• Project lists all the projects created within the current Workspace.
• Outline gives a nice Tree view of a class that you are currently editing.

In the bottom right will be a Panel Add Icon - click this and choose other. We want to select a couple of panels to aid in development.

• In the search type in File and select this.
• Now it will give you a shortcut in the bottom right - click and drag the Tab and place it next to the Outline tab.

License Key

I recommend purchsing Aptana mainly because you gain the ability to SFTP. Aptana Prices

• Copy the License to: Window->Preferences->Aptana->License
• Go to Help->Check For Aptana Updates to make sure you have the full suite

Aptana Module Setup

Aptana does not come with PHP Environment built in, this must be downloaded:

1. Go to Help->Software Updates->Find and Install.
2. Search for new features
3. Select Aptana: PHP Development Environment
4. Follow through with the install procedure.

It is possible to install other Aptana modules this way such as AIR / iPhone development environments.

Third Party Module Setup

Any Edit provides some essential conversion tools and whitespace removal. Please visit the site for up to date installation instructions, but essentially this should work

1. Help->Software Updates->Find and Install
2. Search for new features to install -> Next -> New Remote Site
3. Use the http://andrei.gmxhome.de/eclipse/ as the url.
4. Uncheck Show the latest version of this software (Aptana does not use the latest Eclipse release)
5. At time of writing open up Eclipse 3.2-3.3 and select AnyEdit

Please let me know about other modules that increase development performance

Aptana Preferences

The largest section covers the intracies now of making Aptana work with proven PHP standard practices. It would be nice if Aptana took these on board and made them the default, or created a set of PHP coding standards that matched the defaul Aptana setup; even though coding standards are a personal choice I try to stick as closely to PEAR coding standards as possible.

Go to Window->Preferences:

General Section

• General

1. Always run in background - Check

• General->Appearance

1. Enable animations - Off

• General->Editors->AnyEdit Tools

1. Convert Tabs to Spaces - Select

• Aptana->Editors->PHP

1. PHP Editor Mode - Change this to Source Only. We do this so Aptana doesn't create Temporary files.
2. Create Project File - Uncheck this so it doesnt create a default index.php file.

This is to be completed - Need a fresh install to see default Preferences

End Of Line Characters (EOL)

All files should use the Unix EOF ending i.e. LF instead of the windows CRLF

For new files created in Eclipse you can set the end of line character for the whole workspace in:

• Window->Preferences->General->Workspace->New text file line delimiter.

To convert the EOL characters of the currently edited files go to menu File -> Convert Line Delimiters To and select Unix instead of Windows.

PHP Formatting

Please download this file and import into Aptana to use the Triangle Solutions code standards

TBD Provide File

Project Creation

To create a PHP project from a directory within your workspace follow these steps:

1. Right click within the prject panel and select New->other (Unless PHP Project is in the initial list)
2. Select Aptana Projects->PHP Project
3. Name your project - this defaults to your workspace, name the project after the containing directory.

Stop Temporary Files Being Created

Aptana will create temporary files to be used in the different Editor Modes i.e. Browser view. To stop this default behaviour:

1. Window->Preferences->Aptana->Editors->PHP
2. Where it states PHP Editor Mode select Source Only

Beta Versions

Instructions may vary with different versions but theme will likely be the same.

1. Select Window > Preferences, then > Install / Update.
2. Set the Policy URL field to: http://update.aptana.com/update/studio/BETA VERSION/policy.xml (Change)
3. Apply the changes and Close the preferences screen.
4. Next, select Help > Check for Aptana Updates Now...
5. Download and install Aptana Studio BETA, and restart Studio.
6. Select Aptana > My Aptana and click on the Plug-ins area.

External Links

• Aptana