Rapid PHP 2018 Review

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Rapid PHP 2018 Review

Postby David631 » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:11 pm

Yesterday I evaluated Rapid PHP 2018 for about an hour (exclusive of the hour it took to write this review), after having browsed around in it several times before. I'm appreciative of the 30 tries before purchase, since it takes awhile to get used to this somewhat unusual product. I'm on Windows 10 Home, and reviewing version 15.1.0.203 of RP18. It is a project for web developers to put finishing touches on their web pages.

In order to facilitate my evaluation, I created a project for an existing app that is already under development using my usual set of tools: Notetab Pro, Macro Express, Ethervane Echo, and Firefox.

Of all the RP18 features I tried during a typical development session, I'm most impressed with (1) the Code Explorer, which allows me to go to the definition of any function or variable in my app instantly.

The rest of this review concerns the features I found confusing or faulty. I am mindful of the fact that evaluating a new programming tool must have a learning hurdle, since there isn't enough time to develop an intuitive or automatic use of the product features that would support good development, where the tools just do what you want them to do without having to figure anything out (at least most of the time).

The biggest problem (2) was switching back and forth quickly between editing and running my app. This is the heart of interactive development, and I am most productive when this switch can be done quickly.

Ideally, in a perfect world, I'd like to see my code cached in an intermediate language so that each edit modifies the intermediate representation and shows the results immediately in the simulated browser page. RP18 certainly didn't come anywhere near this golden standard during my testing of it. (The only product I have seen that acted like this was the first version of Arachnophilia, an HTML editor that showed results on each keystroke in the browser pane. The current version has dropped this feature and is much less useful because of this.)

RP18 starts showing a row of tabs at the bottom of the editing pane, and I selected preview and was happy to see a preview pane appear and be functional. Unfortunately, (3) the row of tabs soon disappeared and I could find no way to get the pane back again, even though I tried all the Preview items in the Tools menu. I could find no single-key method for switching to Firefox, either the real Firefox or the Preview Pane, which I could never find again. Yes, I know there is a menu item for Firefox, but apparently not one for the built-in preview pane.

Also, (4) when using the Preview Pane, I got several errors reported by the Firefox debugger. I managed to look at the code for one of them, an undefined variable reference in a line starting "D.MainForm.elements..." I think it was complaining that MainForm was not found, which is strange since D is given the value "document" (which must exist) and "MainForm" is the ID of the main form in the app. In any case, this problem could not be reproduced, either in my old dev env or under RP18 later. It just happened once, but for me that was once too many.

Another behavior that was surprising (5) was the fact that although a "Project" feature is present, it does not seem to be used (perhaps it is used for the Code Explorer and the Inspector, not sure). I was expecting to see the five or so main files of my app, in two directories, to be arrayed as tabs that I could use to edit the code of each (this is how I use Notetab, which manages named sets of project file tabs), but this didn't happen. Instead, I had to use the awful Windows-style File Explorer that used to appear in the right-most pane (I say "used to" because I must have accidentally closed it (6) and I can't get it back by right-clicking on the pane title) to navigate manually to each directory and double-click the file. This is as bad as using the Windows File Explorer to open files for editing, except that I have that set up to open the file with just one click. A general rule is: the fewer clicks, the better.

In general, RP18 has many features of interest to programmers, such as ways to look up the usage of PHP, JavaScript, and other functions. But in my project under development, I didn't need those features (I make my own one-page summary of the functions I use most often), and the features I used most were not the easiest to use or were entirely nonexistent.

It took time and experimentation just to switch back and forth between editing and testing.

If I were developing a tool like RP18, it would look quite different. You wouldn't have to keep going to the menu to complete simple tasks--most would be supported using the mouse or keyboard with visual help (for example, the right mouse button could always show a context menu, which is its expected function in Windows already).

I found RP18's (7) silent creation of temporary versions of files I was editing disconcerting, never quite certain whether what I wanted was in the current file version or the version on disk or what. I'm glad that I saved a backup of my project, because two files with the prefix "prev" were created without any direct indication that this was done. I wonder what function this served. It wasn't obvious.

A final problem (8) in this hour was the spontaneous creation of a tiny plain square window with a yellow border on my computer. A system tool showed me that this was a window owned by RP18. Clicking on it took the focus, but did not seem to do anything. Closing RP18 made the tiny window disappear.

Although I like the fact that this tool has so many features, they don't seem optimized for the way I develop Web apps and I think I will stay with my highly-customized and extended version of the Notetab editor (if my frustrations with it don't eventually push me back into using my beloved and easy-to-extend Emacs).
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Re: Rapid PHP 2018 Review

Postby pmk65 » Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:32 pm

2) I'm not quite sure what you mean by switching between apps, but CTRL+TAB always work. Also you can setup "External Programs" in the preferences.

3) I have experienced the same problem (Currently I have no panel and is stuck with Chrome preview). So I guess that is a bug,

4) It's Chrome or IE, not Firefox that is used for internal previewing.

5) With "Projects", you need to setup the correct paths and file types. Then it will work in Code Explorer/Code inspector.

6) If you install the "Project Workspace" plugin viewtopic.php?t=7470&p=26142#p26142, it will autoload open files from projects.

7) I have never seen any .prev file created in my folders/projects.

8) Never experienced this either. Maybe it's caused by some other programs you have running?
There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.
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