FTP Is a Dealbreaker

[JimW]

I currently use PhpStorm but I've been keeping an eye on Rapid PHP for several years but still can't commit... v2018 is very close.

The biggest dealbreaker for me is the Rapid Php FTP.

PhpStorm has separate "Tool Windows" for local Project files and Remote Host instead of a combined "File Explorer" window.
PhpStorm is also smart enough to know where to download the files instead of having to hunt down the correct folder.
EDIT:
Even Dreamweaver CS6 links the server directories to the local directories.


Why is this so important? Wordpress plugins are frequently updated and my local files get outdated. For any given project I right click on the remote "plugins" directory and "Download from here", simple.

Maybe a screenshot will say it better.



I think if it wasn't for this I could dump PhpStorm and buy RapidPhp.

I don't use a local server, sync or version control and don't want to.

Thanks,

J

[Will Fastie]

I'm not crazy about the PhpStorm approach because I don't like having the remote panel taking up space. I much prefer Expression Web's (EW) approach, which is simpler, relatively easy to understand, and out of the way when not needed. Here's what it looks like:



Clicking either the context menu or the button in the middle will publish the selected file or files to the correct location regardless of how the remote view on the right is currently configured. In other words, the books.php file belongs in /admin/apps/fastie/, not the root, and both the features shown in the picture above make that happen.

One can also completely control the publishing, the simplest way being drag and drop. That operation puts the files where you specify no matter where they actually belong.

Notice the "Site" tab over the editing area. That's where the display above lives when one is doing something else.

I don't mind a click or two extra because publishing is not my majority activity when using Rapid PHP, not even close. Editing is the main activity. In EW publishing a single file or folder is two clicks away and publishing a selection of files/folders is still only two clicks after the selection has been made.

This all speaks to my longstanding problems with Rapid's folder panel and FTP in general (see my recent post on the subject). This remains a major deficiency of Rapid PHP, one based on the fact that the Folder List is not truly integrated into the environment.

The EW Site tab is hardly my idea of the perfect FTP client. But that's okay because I don't need the full feature set of a FileZilla. EW provides just enough to make it effective and efficient. That's not the case for Rapid.

[JimW]

I'm not crazy about the PhpStorm approach because I don't like having the remote panel taking up space.

One click (or keyboard shortcut) opens and closes the Remote Host (or any) Tool Window, so my vote would be for the PhpStorm way. You can also move any tool window to the top, bottom, left or right and no tools are locked in groups.

Blumentals doesn't seem to have any interest in linking remote directories to local directories so... I'll check back now and then.

Thanks for your reply

[Will Fastie]

The Expression Web "way" is the same - one click to bring up the "Site View" panel. As you can see from my image, the Site View tab is always visible. It's not optional; it's built in. If there are so many files open for editing that they won't fit, the tabs scroll left and right but the Site View tab always stays put at the left. One click, always.

I advocate a similar approach for Rapid because the current method for examining the remote location is buried in the FTP configuration dialog, which is very bad.

Although I believe such an improvement for publishing is required, it is also the case that I use it only when I need to examine the remote side or publish a file to a different location than the local organization would imply. The rest of the time I either publish the single file I'm working on (three methods available for that) or publish from the Folder List by selecting a folder or other group of files and using the publish option in the context menu. Because Rapid does not provide these features, I continue to use Expression Web for them, daily.

That is the source of my complaint with Rapid - Publish is not fully integrated into the Folder List. It tops my list of publish-related requests.

One feature in Rapid that is not in EW is the ability to publish all open files, very handy if a change being worked on involves several files. I don't use it often.

[Aivars]

WeBuilder does have a few things that help with FTP <--> local synchronization. First of all, the Upload/Download command can be performed from File Explorer -> Project tab, if FTP location is specified in the project settings.

(scroll down using the extra scrollbar that this forum creates for bigger images)

filesystem_ftp.png (37.73 KiB) Viewed 6880 times

The problems that we haven't addressed for 2018 version but are planning to address for the next one:

- This feature should also work for folders, not just individual files.
- If you go via FTP not Project and use Upload Files or Download Files from there, it should use the corresponding local folder as the initial location of the Open/Save dialog.

We have been thinking about separating FTP from Files, but I can't promise this yet. I'm personally all for this but some of us are opposed to this.

Will, to browse remote location, you can use File Explorer -> FTP tab. To "publish" file to a different remote location that its local path would imply, use menu File -> Save to FTP. You can also use Drag & Drop from Windows Explorer to FTP tab of File Explorer to upload files and folders to any FTP location.

[JimW]

If you go via FTP not Project and use Upload Files or Download Files from there, it should use the corresponding local folder as the initial location of the Open/Save dialog.

That would be a big improvement, if downloading say a newly installed wordpress plugin...
It should go to the project sub folder where the plugin belongs

Project\wp-content\plugins

Even older versions of Dreamweaver gets it right with the Get command. PhpStorm gets it right, CodeLobster (php edition not the IDE) gets it right and I am still looking to replace PhpStorm.

We have been thinking about separating FTP from Files, but I can't promise this yet. I'm personally all for this but some of us are opposed to this.

I'd like to just be able to drag the FTP tab out to it's own window.

Thanks