Coming from an asp.net mvc background & have some questions

Basically I have never coded with PHP, but seeing as they are all c derived languages
thought I could just jump into it seeing as the mvc pattern is implemented with
opencart.

I have some questions as to the preferred\optimal working environment and
what you guys can recommend. Reading from the forums most people
seem to be using a simple editor like notepad++ and not a full on IDE
with integrated Web\SQL server etc. and seeing as PHP is not compiled
code and there does not appear to be a project solution file I was
wondering whether I would be best off by just installing
(CentoOS - Apache - MySQL- PHP + other open cart dependences) and simply
opening the files from the serving "WWW" etc. directory and editing them
in a simple editor or is there a good IDE that would allow me to open
the opencart project in its entirety, show all directories, classes etc.
offer something similar to intellisense etc. Does Zend studio
and eclipse really aid in non-too complex PHP projects (not based on frameworks) or not ?
Also a good MySQL database manager (free or not doesn't matter)?

Thanks..

I don't think there's any need for a full on IDE editor really, not for PHP, your right in thinking it doesn't need compiling like asp.net...

I used to code in asp.net, and absolutely hated it. I was only a novice at the time and was just using Visual Web Developer - to which I tried setting up a NopCommerce store... god it was a pain, just hated it!!

PHP is extremely simple and lightweight, you dont have the problems you would with asp, and many decent text editors include syntax highlighting as standard - some even come with an "Autocomplete" function that will suggest PHP functions (forget what it's actually called!).

There are a few IDE's out there like PHPed which I believe does support mvc layouts / projects, but not too sure on that - but really do think it'd be pointless, it's not needed at all.

Personally I use Geany (didn't like Notepad++), again a free download, with PHP syntax highlighting (and as many other that you can think of), and the function suggestion thingie that I cant remember the name of....

for DB access, HeidiSQL I believe is the most popular choice. I've never actually used anything else - it does everything you need and again completely free.


Have a look at WAMP too on your searches, it'll give you an apache server that you can run locally - it includes all the necessary things you'd need to start coding - Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpmyadmin (web based DB access).

Infact you mentioned it yourself - intellisense is what I was after!! haha