Eclipse for PHP Developers is Back

After a few years pause the Eclipse for PHP Developers package is back with the Luna M4 milestone of the Eclipse Simultaneous Release.

The package assembles the PHP Development Tools (PDT), the JavaScript Development Tools (JSDT), HTML, CSS and XML editors, and productivity tools like EGit and Mylyn. It is one of the easiest way to start using PDT for developing PHP applications.

The package can be downloaded from the Developer Builds section on the Eclipse Downloads page: http://eclipse.org/downloads/index-developer.php

Comparing feature.xml Files With XMLUnit

Recently, I worked on a releng tool that compares two build results of an Eclipse-based product and reports the differences. Depending on how the build is modelled, there are metadata files, which content changes with each build, e.g. version timestamps in feature.xml. In order to avoid polluting the report with such changes, I wanted to filter them.

So, I needed a way to compare feature.xml files, but yet ignoring differences found in some xml attributes like "version", "download-size" and "install-size". Luckily, I stumbled upon XMLUnit, which saved me lots of efforts.

XMLUnit was designed as a helper for asserting test results for code that produces XML output. But it's also turns to be a great helper for any use case that involves comparison of XML data.

Comparing two XML files is as easy as creating a new Diff object and calling any of the two test methods: identical() and similar(). In my case, similar() worked better.

The above snippet compares the XML files, but it does not ignore the attributes I am not interested of. Customizing the comparison mechanism of XMLUnit is very easy by overriding the so called DifferenceListener with own implementation.

In my own implementation I simply check if the found difference is related to any of the three attributes I want to ignore. If this is the case then I simply tell XMLUnit to treat these difference as "similar".

And this is everything you need to get the job done.

Moving Forward

After more than 12 years working for SAP, it was time for a change. I decided to refresh my professional life and joined the Zend Studio team.

All these years at SAP will remain a cornerstone in my professional career. I built myself as a software engineering. I worked on exciting projects together with so many great colleagues in the lab in Sofia, in the headquarters in Walldorf, and across the globe. I engaged with the Eclipse open source community.

My participation in the Eclipse community was perhaps the most romantic part during that time. I am extremely happy that in my new job I will continue being part and contributing to the community.

After two months working for Zend Technologies, I can say that this was the right move for me. I am now having the environment I wished for some time: smaller company, less processes, less politics, faster decision making, ROWE, telecommuting, shared office space, using modern and friendlier tools... In short: more freedom.