Setting up VSCode
VSCode is a an Integrated Development Environment from Microsoft available under the MIT License. It works on Linux/Windows/OSX. It has a large number of plugins available, most entirely free/libre. It has good support for Xdebug.
Debugging
PHP Debug adds debugging capability for PHP files, which is essential. Follow the extension's installation instructions.
Intellisense
PHP Intelephense is the standard php plugin for intellisense features.
Linting
Linting plugins will show wavy red lines under code that does not conform: The linters used for development are:
- stylelint for CSS
- ESLint for JS
- PHP Sniffer for PHP. It requires phpcs v2.* (package) installed and configured to use moodle's standards.
To do so, run the following in your terminal from your moodle folder:
composer global require "squizlabs/php_codesniffer=2.*"
composer require --dev "blackboard-open-source/moodle-coding-standard" # installs moodle's coding standard
phpcs --config-set installed_paths vendor/blackboard-open-source/moodle-coding-standard # adds moodle's standard to phpcs
phpcs -i # checks which standards are available to phpcs
phpcs --config-set default_standard moodle # sets moodle as the default standard for phpcs
If it is installed moodle will show up in the output of `phpcs -i`, here is a typcial example, note moodle is listed as the last but one item.
The installed coding standards are PEAR, PHPCS, Zend, PSR2, MySource, Squiz, PSR1, moodle and PHPCompatibility
Code Formatting
If you have PHP Sniffer installed, configure it to be the default formatter:
// add this [php] key/value pair in vscode's user settings (settings.json):
{
// ...
"[php]": {
"editor.defaultFormatter": "wongjn.php-sniffer"
}
}
Automated testing
Yet Another PHPUnit lets you run automated tests from within vscode.
It inserts a link just above the class name that says 'Run class tests' which will run all the tests in a class and links above each function that says Run test that will run just that test.
Docblocks
PHP DocBlocker to create a docblock by typing /** at the top of a function and it grabs the parameters, including types if given and creates a PHPDoc block.
Moodle specific Snippets and autocomplete
Moodle - Snippets & Autocomplete offers some useful Moodle specific code completion popups.
Auto trim trailing white space
To ensure trailing white space is trimmed do the following
Open VS User Settings (Preferences > Settings > User Settings tab). Click the {} icon in the top-right part of the window. This will open a document.
Add a new "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": true
setting to the User Settings document if it's not already there.
This is so you aren't editing the Default Setting directly, but instead adding to it.
Save the User Settings file.