Develop and Deploy a PHP Application with Eclipse

Download PDF

Follow these instructions to use Eclipse to develop and deploy your PHP application to the OEF Hosted Environment.

Before you begin:

Obtain your OEF Hosted Environment URL, username, and password from your coach.
Make sure you have unrestricted Internet access and that proxy servers or firewalls are not blocking access to the below-noted resources.

Download and install the following software. Accept the default components for each install.

Start the packages:

In the "Available Software" window:

In the "Work with" field, enter "Indigo - http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo".
A list of available updates/modules will display.
Expand "Programming Languages" and choose "PHP Development Tools (PDT) SDK Feature".
Click "Next".

The "Install Details" window appears.

Read and accept the license agreement.

Eclipse will start fetching the packages. You will be to prompted restart Eclipse after this process.

Create new WebDAV connection to the OEF Hosted Environment:

Open BitKinex. The first time you open BitKinex you will need to answer network setup questions based on your internet connection.
In the main window, go to Data Source > New > Http/WebDAV.
Enter the name for this connection. In this example, we name the connection "ThinkQuest".

In the "Server" window, enter your OEF Hosted Environment URL, username and password:

In the "Server address" field, enter the OEF Hosted Environment URL. In this example, we use "xxddtjwifeogcqgavnwa.thinkquest.org".
From the "Security" dropdown list, select the "SSL".
In the "Authorization" section, enter the OEF Hosted Environment username and password.

Enter the OEF Hosted Environment folder for deployed PHP files:

Go to Server > Site Map from the options on the left.
In the "Path" column of the table, click the slash (/).
Enter "/upload/php/" in the text box below the table.
Click "Update". The default path will be changed to "/upload/php/".
Click "OK". The WebDAV connection to the OEF Hosted Environment is now configured.

Test the WebDAV connection to the OEF Hosted Environment:

In the main BitKinex window (see the image at the start of this section), double-click the "Http/WebDAV" connection you created previously. In this example, the connection is "ThinkQuest".
BitKinex will connect to the OEF Hosted Environment. You will see the server folders on the left (ThinkQuest) and your local folders on the right (My Computer).

Create a new project for your PHP application using Eclipse:

Create a new project:

Name your project:

In the "Project Name" field, enter a name for your project. In this example, we name the project "HelloWorld".
In the "Directory" field, enter the project path. In this example, the project path is "C:\ThinkQuest\HelloWorld".
Click "Finish".

Create an index.php file:

Edit the index.php file:

Locate the source files of your PHP application on your local computer:

In the main BitKinex window (see the image at the start of the "Configure BitKinex WebDAV Client" section), double-click the "Http/WebDAV" connection you created previously. In this example, the connection is "ThinkQuest".
BitKinex will connect to the OEF Hosted Environment. You will see the server folders on the left (ThinkQuest) and your local folders on the right (My Computer).
In the "My Computer" window, open the "Sources Folder" where you stored your PHP project files. In this example, the folder is "C:\ThinkQuest".

Deploy the source files to the OEF Hosted Environment:

In the "My Computer" window, select the files and folders you want to deploy.
In the "ThinkQuest" window, confirm that "upload/php/" folder is selected.
Move the selected files and folders from the "My Computer" window to the "ThinkQuest" window using the left arrow button. In this example, we moved the file "index.php".

Your application is deployed and can be run in a browser. In this example, the URL is: