ODPHPTools for Xcode

Using Apple’s Xcode to develop websites with PHP unfortunately is a bit, well let’s say spartan. There are of course other development tools more tailored towards PHP - also for the Mac. But Xcode is a very fine development tool, so why not try to make it a bit more comfy also for PHP developers?

Features

PHP system function lookup

Type the first few characters of a PHP system function into your source code
Call the Lookup PHP Function command of ODPHPTools
A panel pops up, listing matching PHP functions including parameters
Type in some more characters to narrow the search
Press Enter and the function including text markers for each parameter will be inserted
Use Xcode’s Select Next Placeholder command to jump to each marker

You can also call Lookup PHP Function without typing anything into your source - it will then list all functions and you narrow the list by starting typing...

PHP help lookup

Place the text cursor in or right behind a PHP function name
(or select the function name)
Call the Search PHP Help command of ODPHPTools
A browser window opens, showing the help page for this PHP function (using the URL http://www.php.net/functionname)

Download

ODPHPTools Xcode plugin, version 1.4
ODPHPTools.xcplugin.zip	Download	115 kB

Installation

After downloading and uncompressing the bundle (ODPHPTools.xcplugin) move it to

~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Plug-ins

and (re-)start Xcode.

To install the plugin for all users, put it into

/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.Platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Plug-ins
(thx to Jean-Yves Terrien for that info)

You should then find two new menu items in Xcode’s Edit menu:

Lookup PHP Function
Search PHP Help

You can create custom keyboard shortcuts for these ODPHPTools commands in System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts. Make sure to enter the menu titles exactly as listed above. You cannot use shortcuts already used by Xcode for other commands. You could for example choose Command-F9 and Command-F10.