This repository contains the most recent version of VIP, VIM integration for PHP, including the phpDocumentor for VIM (PDV) script. The main component is a VIM file type plugin, which configures a lot of VIM enhancements for more comfortable PHP editing in VIM.

In addition, this repository also contains useful VIM files I found over the web and some self made enhancements for PHP and other languages. Copyright and licensing is noted in the specific files, if different than my own.

If you want to just use the whole VIP package, maybe because you don't have any vim settings yet, you can use the install.sh command.

It will tell you to backup/remove your current vim configs and symlink the necessary VIP folders to your home directory.:

git clone https://github.com/tobyS/vip.git
cd vip
./install.sh
# Don't remove your clone as the files are only symlinked

PDV provides auto documentation functionality for PHP code in VIM. You can easily create documentation templates for a lot of PHP code constructs easily, which are pre-filled with sensible values. The documentation generated by PDV is parseable by phpDocumentor, the standard tool for PHP inline documentation.

The following code constructs are documentable using PDV:

• classes
• methods
• attributes
• functions
• constants

You can either use PDV on a single code construct, or on a range of code constructs. PDV will generate the appropriate doc tags for all contained elements. It will fill in the standard values you provide and try to guess as much data from your code as possible (like the data type of attributes and function/method parameters).

To install PDV, you simply need to download php-doc.vim from this repository and put it into your local VIM directory, which should be (on Unix systems) located in:

~/.vim/

Additionally, you need to source this file from your .vimrc or your VIM file type plugin for PHP files. To source the script, simply add the following line to the file of your choice:

source ~/.vim/php-doc.vim

If you simply want to test PDV once, without using it every time you edit a PHP file, you can also source it once in a running VIM session. Just type

:source ~/.vim/php-doc.vim

in normal mode.

Now you have PDV included and the PDV functions are publicly available. PDV contains 2 main functions:

PhpDocSingle()

Which is responsible for documenting a single PHP construct.

PhpDocRange()

Which you can use to document a whole range of PHP constructs.

You can either choose to call these functions manually (which is quite uncomfortable) by moving the cursor to a line which you desire to document, or select a range of lines you'd like to document, and type

:call PhpDocSingle()

or

:call PhpDocRange()

in normal / visual mode.

More comfortably, you should add key mappings to your .vimrc for the PDV functions. I am using <Ctrl>+p for this (short to remember P, for PDV):

inoremap <C-P> �:call PhpDocSingle()<CR>i
nnoremap <C-P> :call PhpDocSingle()<CR>
vnoremap <C-P> :call PhpDocRange()<CR>

With this, you simply need to press <Ctrl>+p anywhere (normal-, insert- or visual-mode) to run PDV. It will document appropriate.

PDV fills in tags as it "thinks" is appropriate. Because development environments are highly different, the values that are appropriate for me my be completely inappropriate for you. Therefore, you can configure almost all of them to suite your needs. The configuration values can be found at the very top of php-doc.vim in the "Globals" section.

Please do yourself a favor and do not edit anything below this section, as long as you are not absolutely sure, what you are doing!

The configuration is done through global VIM script variables. All variables utilized by PDV start with g: (for global scope) and are prefixed by pdv_cfg_* for namespacing reasons.

The first section configures the comment chars to use. You usually should not have to edit those, because they are already appropriate for the phpDocumentor standard. Nevertheless, you could configure the following settings here:

g:pdv_cfg_CommentHead

The first line of a comment. The default value here is "/**" , which introduces a new phpDocumentor conform documentation block.

g:pdv_cfg_Comment1

In phpDocumentor each comment line starts with a star. Actually, with a space and a char. This variable defines the prefix for the first actual comment line. The default value " * " should be appropriate here.

g:pdv_cfg_Commentn

Because in some rare cases, you possible want to change the prefix of the first comment line independent of the rest of the comment lines. This can be done, using this variable. The default value again is " * ", as in the phpDocumentor standard.

g:pdv_cfg_CommentTail

This variable defines the ending line of a phpDocumentor block. The default value is " */".

g:pdv_cfg_CommentSingle

While PDV currently does not generate single line comments (mainly, because they are not part of the phpDocumentor standard), this variable could be used to configure their appearance. Default is "//".

Much more important than the settings above is the next section of options, which takes care for default values:

g:pdv_cfg_Type

This setting defines the default type of attributes and parameters. PDV tries to determine the type first, using several mechanisms, like type hints and default values. If it cannot guess the type, it uses this value, which is "mixed", per default.

g:pdv_cfg_Package

The class level doc block should contain the @package tag, according to phpDocumentor standard. PDV will use the value of this configuration variable here. You just adjust this in each package, to suite your needs. NOTE: There can not be any sensible default value!

g:pdv_cfg_Version

Every class level doc block should have a version number tag. The value for this variable is usually a placeholder again, which will be replaced by a 3rd party program (like CVS or SVN) or a custom script. The default value here is "//autogen//", which can be used with a custom script.

g:pdv_cfg_Author

The @author tag is present in every doc block, usually. It defines the name (and possibly mail address) of the programmer who has written the code. You should enter your name here. Per default, this setting is empty, which is usually not a sensible default.

g:pdv_cfg_Copyright

The @copyright tag is also available at class level only. There is no sensible default value for this tag.

g:pdv_cfg_License

As the @copyright tag, the @license tag is present at class level. It contains license information for your code. You need to customize this, since there is no sensible default value for this tag.

g:pdv_cfg_ReturnVal

PHP does not provide much information to determine the return type of a method/function. Actually, PDV currently does not support any kind. Therefore you need to define a value for the @return tag, which seems appropriate for you. The default value here is "void".

g:pdv_cfg_Uses

The @uses tag is commonly used to explicitly document inheritance of classes and interface implementation. If you want to get the @uses tag generated for class level doc block, change the value of this variable to 1. The default value is 0.

g:pdv_cfg_paste

If you use the file type plugin provided here, you have features like automatic-close-char-mapping (e.g. for braces) and auto indentation activated. In this case, PDV needs to switch on paste mode in VIM before documenting a code block, because else the doc blocks will be broken. This setting usually does not hurt, because PDV stores the original setting and switches back to it after documenting. You can nevertheless switch it off by setting this value to 0. The default value is 1.

g:pdv_cfg_php4always

In contrast to PHP 5, in PHP 4 no scope modifiers existed. Therefore it was necessary to document the program scope of attributes and methods appropriate. Switching this setting to 1 will make PDV document the visibility scope of a PHP construct even if you have PHP 5 code (using the @access tag). For PHP 4 code it will in general document the scope, independent from the value of this setting. For guessing the PEAR coding standard is taken, which defines a private/protected construct to start its name with a _. The default value here is 0, since phpDocumentor determines scope values in PHP 5 automatically and there is no need to explicitly document it.

g:pdv_cfg_php4guessval

If you have to document PHP 4 code, you can define the value which is chosen for guessing the scope using this variable. PEAR defines that elements prefixed by an _ are protected or private. You should change this setting to the value you use most. The default is "protected".

The last section defines the regular expressions used by PDV to recognize certain code constructs. You should never change this settings, unless you really know what you are doing or want your PDV installation to get broken easily. Therefore, this section is only documented in the code and not here.

The PHP file type plugin (short ftplugin) provided in this package configures VIM quite comfortable for coding PHP (at least in my eyes). It provides several key mappings, settings and integration for external programs.

To install the file type plugin, simply download the file .vim/ftplugin/php.vim and put it into the same directory on your HD. You probably have to add the following config line

filetype plugin on

to your .vimrc to make VIM source file type plugins correctly. After that, all settings should be sourced automatically, as soon as you start editing a PHP file (note that the filename must end with ".php").

Additionally you can make VIM also treat .phps files as PHP files (which is quite logical), by adding the following line to your .vimrc:

au BufRead,BufNewFile *.phps                set filetype=php

To activate some of the features, the PHP ftplugin provides, you need external programs to be installed.

PHPM is a command line client to access the PHP documentation. It allows you to display the signature of PHP functions in the VIM status bar. It is a command line tool, which has to be accessible through your $PATH variable to make it usable for VIM. Just download and install PHPM.

A nice documentation about PHPM can be found here http://wiki.cc/php/Epc_phpm .

The auto completion for PHP functions relies on an external function list, which can be found in the PHP CVS. Simply download it and store it into your home dir as funclist.txt.

http://cvs.php.net/viewvc.cgi/phpdoc/funclist.txt

This section lists all features provided by the PHP file type plugin. Like the plugin source itself, they are ordered in several sections.

Beside all other, the plugin first of all includes PDV. ;)

expandtab

In most PHP coding guidelines indentation is required to be done with spaces instead of tabs. This setting makes VIM expand tabs to 4 spaces (which is the most common value).

autoindent and smartindent

Originally meant for C sources, this setting makes VIM intelligently indent and outdent your code as you time. For example, after the header of an if-block, you get an additional indentation level. After the fitting closing brace, the indentation is removed again.

textwidth

I personally prefer my code not to be wrapped at a specific line length. Therefore, this setting is set to 0, so that your code is kept in 1 piece and not wrapped automatically.

nowrap

VIM visually (not physically!) wraps lines at the end of your screen. This setting switches the behaviour off, so you need to scroll right to see full lines, if they exceed the size of your screen.

formatoptions

The indentation behaviour is customizebale. This setting sets the appropriate value for PHP code.

makeprg and errorformat

Originally this setting was intended to have a shortcut to GNU make for C programs. I remapped this to call "php -l" on the current file, which performs a PHP syntax. If an error occurs, VIM automatically jumps to the line where the error was reported by the PHP parser. Note: In some cases, this is not the line, where the error actually occurred. This happens e.g. when a ; is missing somewhere or if you missed to close a brace. This is a problem with parsing PHP, not with VIM!

syntax

VIM supports built in syntax highlighting for a lot of file formats. Since some installations switch this feature off by default, this setting is used to switch it on again.

Missing semicolon

It happens quite often, that you missed a ; at the end of a line. Usually you have to move the cursor to the end of the line, enter insert mode, type the semicolon, exit insert mode and go back to the start of the line. This shortcut enables you to hit the ; key in normal mode on any line and make VIM check if it has a ; at the end. If not, VIM will automatically add it and return to the start of the line (in normal mode) for you.

PDV

As described in the Installing PDV section, I recommend key mappings for the PDV functions. This mappings allow you to use the combination <Ctrl>+p to document your PHP code. In insert and normal mode, it will make PDV document the line under your cursor. In visual mode, it will make PDV detect all known code constructs in the selected range and document them.

PHPM

If you have PHPM support installed, you can simply access the PHP manual by hitting <Ctrl>+h on any PHP function name (in insert mode). PHPM will be called and the signature of the desired function will be shown in the status bar.

Align arrays / assignements

The PhpAlign() function is mapped to <Ctrl>-a in visual mode. Simple select the lines to assign and hit the shortcut.

Commenting / uncommenting

The PhpUnComment() function is mapped to <Ctrl>-c in visual mode. Simply select the lines you want to comment/un-comment and hit the shortcut.:

Normally, if you type a brace or quotes, you want to have the corresponding counterpart to be available, too. VIM takes this nasty work away from you, using these mappings. As soon as you type 1 of the following characters:

• (
• [
• {
• "
• '

in insert mode, VIM will place the corresponding counterpart after the actual one and go one step backwards for you. You don't have to care for closing matching braces and quotes anymore and can simply go on typing your code.

In some rare cases, where you need only 1 part of these characters, simply type <Ctrl>-v before the actual char and you will only get 1 piece. Beside that, in paste mode (:set paste) the corresponding counterparts will not be added, too.

Note: The handling of ( and { varies from coding guide to coding guide. I'm currently using the eZ systems coding guidelines, which regulate, that after every opening and before every closing brace a space is mandatory. If your coding guidelines do not regulate this and you dislike the additional 2 spaces, an alternative mapping is commented in the source of the FT plugin.

For matching curly braces {} the mapping automatically adds 2 line breaks for you and leaves your cursor in the middle of the braces.

Another often occurring case is, that you need to wrap text/code into braces or quotes, after you typed it. Usually you need to add the matching chars at both ends of the string you want to wrap and the trick of Closing chars makes it even more work in this case.

Using visual wrapping you can simply select the desired string in visual mode and hit the char you want to use for wrapping. VIM will automatically do the job for you.

If you have the PHP Function list available, the dictionary completion setting makes it available for you in PHP code. Start typing a PHP function name and hit the auto completion key (see below). If only 1 function matches your request, VIM will simply complete it. In other cases, the behaviour depends on your VIM version:

VIM 6.x

This version will cycle through all matches found by PHPM one step every time you hit the auto completion key. If you reach the end of the list of possible matches, your original string will be recovered. If you hit the specific key once again, cycling will start again.

VIM 7.x

The newer version of VIM will display a nice popup below the cursor position, showing all matches found. You can either cycle through these matches as described above. Additionally you can navigate the list using the cursor keys and select an alternative by hitting <Return>.

VIM does not only support completion after a dictionary as described in Dictionary completion, but also to complete all strings occurring in one of the currently open documents. This actually means, that most of your custom class, method and function names are available for auto completion, too.

Usually VIM uses some weird character sequence for auto completion (while I actually don't even remember which one). As a console junky (I assume you are one, if you like VIM), you are mostly used to have the <Tab> key for completion. The PHP file type plugin provides this functionality for you and maps the <Tab> key in insert mode to perform auto completion, if the cursor resides directly behind a word character. In all other cases (at the start of a line or behind a space) you will get a normally expanded tab.

Note: VIM will always try to use auto completion if your cursor resides behind a character string. In cases where you need a real tab here, simply type a normal space first and then hit the <Tab> key!

Often you have written down an array declaration or a set of variable assignements. Usually things look somewhat ugly the, like

$foo = array(
    "test" => "test",
    "foo" => "bar",
    "something" => "somewhat",
    "anything more" => "and more and more",
);

Aligning this definition properly is an ugly, boring work. The PhpAlign() function takes it from you and aligns the array declaration properly:

$foo = array(
    "test"          => "test",
    "foo"           => "bar",
    "something"     => "somewhat",
    "anything more" => "and more and more",
);

This also works with usual variable assignements:

$foo = "bar";
$someVariable = "some value";
$aVar = 23;

becomes

$foo          = "bar";
$someVariable = "some value";
$aVar         = 23;

Often you want to comment or un-comment a couple of lines, because you currently change those and want to make a backup or simply want to bring alternative code in place. For multiple reasons you may not want to use multi-line commens for this (e.g. because you the closing sequence inside the code or because they simply look ugly. PhpUnComment() simply comments a line which is not commented and un-comments a line that is commented.

function test()
{
    return "test";
}
// function test()
// {
    // return 23;
// }

Selecting these lines (all of them) and running PhpUnComment() results in:

// function test()
// {
    // return "test";
// }
function test()
{
    return 23;
}

In addition to the main parts of the PDV package (described above), I'm providing my personal .vimrc file here, which contains some configuration tricks which are not only (but also) useful for editing PHP source code.

Grep without SVN

The VIM internal grep feature (which enables you to grep through files and jump from result to result) has 1 major problem: If you use it recursively and also use SVN, it gets all matches from the SVN internal files (history and stuff), too. To avoid this, the grep command is remapped to an external script, which ignores the SVN directories for you. TODO: The script is not in SVN, yet. I need to add it. If you want to use this feature, you currently need to write your own script and place it into /usr/bin with the name vimgrep.

Spell checking

From version 7.0 VIM has a built in spell checking facility, which works using ISpell. You normally have to activate spelling manually and have to set your preferred language. The .vimrc maps this to <F5>. Note: You will need to adjust the language setting, if you want something else then US English.

Seeing the cursor

If you ow a large screen with a high resolution, you sometimes search for your cursor. To save this time amount, I added a mapping, which places a nice long line below your cursor in insert mode. Next time simply hit <i> and see instantly, where you are currently editing.

Skeleton

Every time you start a PHP file, you have to process the same work: Add opening and closing PHP tags. Using the skeleton file from this repository VIM saves this work for you. As soon as you start a new file, VIM places open and closing tag for you and leaves you in between of these, so you can instantly start editing.

.phps files

Apache and other web servers recognize so called .phps files, which get displayed as highlighted PHP code. The .vimrc maps .phps files to be treated like .php files, so you have the same features available here.

Ruler and status

VIM (by default) has no ruler (indicating your position in the file) and displays only rare status information at the end of the file. These settings get sensible values.

Folding

VIM allows you to fold text blocks so that you keep an overview in huge files. By default, you have to manually close a fold or folding does not work at all. The .vimrc contains the necessary settings to activate that. Additionally it configures VIM to automatically close a fold as soon as you leave its area.

Searching

Some distributions (e.g. Gentoo) have the "highlight search" feature of VIM activated by default and incremental search deactivated. I want it the exact other way around. "highlight search" (hlsearch) is annoying IMO. It highlights all search results in a document and does not provide a useful way to switch the highlight off again automatically (you probably have to search for something that does not exist to switch it off again). In contrast to that, incremental search is quite useful. It jumps to the first result of your search as you type.

Scrolling

Usually, if your cursor hits the top or bottom of the screen and goes beyond it, VIM scrolls just 1 line at each hit. The .vimrc makes it more comfortable to scroll beyond the screen ends: First it moves the marker to perform scrolling at to 3 lines away from the real end of the screen. Second it makes VIM jump 5 lines at once and not only one, so that you do not need to scroll that much.

Broken backspace

In some terminals, the backspace key might not act as expected. Probably it might not delete indentation characters or at the start of the line do not delete the line ending of the previous line. The .vimrc provided here fixes this behaviour.

Modeline

The status line that indicates what the current mode is (normal, insert, visual) is per default not present. Using the .vimrc of this package, makes it available.