i use eclipse (well… kinda… i use zend studio).
if you want autocompletion for Yii just import inside the project the yii framework directory and that’s it.
i tried netbeans more times, i really can’t get to like it, but the one thing i hate the most is that when one of my colleagues pass me a files he wrote using netbeans the whole tabulations is a complete mess (and i hate the fact that you guys turn tabs into spaces)
Every detail of indentation can be configured (globally or per-project) so it’s not Netbeans’ fault 
i know that phtamas, problem is my colleagues like it the way it is and don’t care XD
mine was more a rant actually XD
am coding in Yii and trying to figure out whether i shud go with Eclipse or Netbeans. from the posts so far, it seems Netbeans is the way to go.
I’ve got a pretty sweet dev machine and I like using eclipse… no problems re speed… can’t bring myself to spend much time learning another IDE, so I can’t comment on Netbeans myself. I have even put Eclipse on my netbook (2gb ram) and it performs OK, but wouldn’t want to do it all the time…
Using YiiClpse. It’s an Eclipse PDT extension for Yii.
I couldn’t install the extension on ZendStudio. Anyone succeeded trying to do that?
Really nice stuff. thanks.
Quick question: I have used Eclipse for 6 years, is NetBeans totally different IDE or I should have no problems migrating to it?
No, it is very similar, and you will get to use it fast. If you used Eclipse for long time, just stick with it. I used both, any it is hard to say which one is better, both have their pros and cons.
I think Aptana (stand-alone) is better than Eclipse - that is: if you want to program the web (and not C++ or Java).
In PHPStorm you can just add Yii as an external library, I would imagine the same holds true for Eclipse(and Netbeans).
Hi, i could not install the plugin, it hanged on 20% of the installation (STABLE), and when i tried with DEV version, it hanged at 19%. I just tried restarting Eclipse but nothing happens.
Ideas?
Thanks in advance
Try both. Also try others: Komodo, PhpStorm. Vote for Eclipse.
One thing that I’m missing is quick search for a string within a certain directory, but if the project is on my mashine searching a string in the entire project is quick enough…
Go with Aptana 3
It rocks.
No need to pay for Phpstorm, as Aptana supports not only Yii and PHP, but Sass/Scss, Ruby, Python, Css, …
I used Eclipse in the past, then switched to NetBeans. I’ve been very happy with it, but I started using PhpStorm this week and it feels good.
In the past I tried Codelobster and Aptana, too.
Another vote for Netbeans here. I’ve tried pretty much all alternatives, and they all lack in one way or another. Netbeans is by no means perfect, but at least I don’t have to fight it, like some alternatives.
Reopening old topic.
I’ve just switched from Netbeans to Eclipse, as I died with so called Netbeans “speed”.
Though Yiiclipse doesn’t seems to be working (at least for me) and though everything is new for me in Eclipse, I finally made that decission and I don’t think I’ll regret it.
Back in 2010, when I started using Netbeans, it was fast like a hell (in terms of Java applications, where all of them are generally slow) and Eclipse seems to be sooou slooow. Few months after, with release of NB7 they’ve implemented “slowness detector” (which actually killed me off laughing, first time I saw it) and then my nightmare started.
I simply can’t afford, on dual-processor notebook with 4 GB or RAM and Windows 7, to wait 5-10 seconds between I double click an item in project’s tree and file is actually opened. I’m trying to learn calmness and emotion-less peace (again), but this is beyond what I can accept.
As good as dramatic, idiotic absurds like opening file in some strange encoding (not UTF8) even though it is UTF8-encoded and even though UTF8 is set as default encoding of all files, only because that file is outside current project folder structure. Nightmare!
I’ve been using PhpStorm for last 7 months now. It helped me gain productivity like no other IDE.
It is fast enough and has loads of features. I’m not looking back.
Yes, it is paid, but it is well worth it.