This is Part 6 of The Beginner’s Guide To Setting Up a Development Environment.
When it comes to how we actually manage our source code and our projects, we all have our preferences.
Some of us prefer editors that include debugging, test integration, and the ability to preview the interface generated by code. Others of us are more simplistic and want nothing more than a single window with line numbers.
Regardless of your preference, here’s how you can setup three popular environments to take advantage of your local environment.
1. Basic Text Editors
Basic text editors such as TextMate and Notepad++ require no real configuration as it relates to managing your source code.
The biggest thing to remember with these editors is to keep your files organized into project directories and remember to work out of those directories.
Remember that one of the biggest advantages, aside from backups of your files, is the fact that you have this environment available across all machines that have Dropbox installed.
2. Eclipse and Aptana
Eclipse (and Aptana which is based on Eclipse) are two extremely popular IDE’s for a variety of languages – Java, PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Rails, and so on.
Note that both of these IDE’s store their files in workspaces. Because these IDE’s support a variety of languages and frameworks, they maintain their own set of configuration files. As such, there configuration options need to be kept relative to the workspace.
If you’ve never installed either of these, specifying a workspace in your Dropbox directory is easy.
Upon startup, simply specify the path to your project directory:
If you’re already using either of these editors, then you’ll need to add a new workspace in the editor. It’s easy:
- Click the Window menu
- Click on Preferences
- In the search box type ‘workspaces’
- On the first available option for workspaces, make sure that you’ve checked ‘Prompt for workspace on startup’
- Add your Project directory to the list
Once done, you should have something like this:
Restart Eclipse (or Aptana) and you should be good to go.
3. Visual Studio
Visual Studio is one of the most powerful IDE’s available. If you’re a .NET developer, you know how nice it is to work with it. Even if you’re just getting into .NET-based development, storing your projects in your Projects directory is easy.
Once you’ve created a project, select File and “Save Program As” and simply relocate the solution to your Projects directory:
Visual Studio has support for multiple projects in a solution so your specific mileage may vary.
For other IDE’s, configuration options will likely vary but only to a certain degree. Most systems employ similar file management mechanisms as those listed here. Feel free to share your steps for your IDE in the comments.
This concludes The Beginner’s Guide To Setting Up a Development Environment.
Eric J says
Another fun thing you can do is setup notepad++ as a portable app http://portableapps.com/apps/development/notepadpp_portable. That way your session will restore wherever you are.
Tom McFarlin says
Totally. I actually had someone ask me about Portable Apps recently. I’ma fan of them but personally prefer Dropbox to them.
Different strokes, you know?
Eric J says
Yeah but you can put portable apps INSIDE dropbox, i forgot to clarify that in my comment whoops!
Tom McFarlin says
Oh gotcha. Totally. Dig this!
April says
OK, I have set it all up, been able to use it, and have created a site. But my question now is, how do I allow my client to see the site I have created without going live?
Tom McFarlin says
You’d have to upload to site to a staging server (or an example server) where she can take a look at it before launching it to her actual site.
Eric Dye says
April, what I usually do, is setup a subdomain name that works like a staging server — such as dev.domain.com — and once everything is good to go, I simply migrate the site to the normal URL–database and all. It takes a few tweaks to the database, but this has saved me lots of time in the long run.
April says
Thanks! That may end up being the solution I use.
Eric Dye says
There are several ways to do it (it may already be built-in MAMAP Pro?), but I suggest you try this first: https://churchm.ag/how-to-share-localhost-publicly/
April says
Thanks for the link Eric.