PHP Development Essentials, a Visual Studio Code extension package

Background

Are you tired of reinstalling extensions on each of your computer(s)? How about when you have to reset computer entirely? Or, how about you're an instructor, a hobbyist, or just "getting your feet wet" in the fine craft of PHP development who does not know which extension(s) to select to get the job done both efficiently and effectively. Regardless, please do not waste time and energy on something so tedious as a process of installing extensions. Extensions are, in a word, awesome! Their premise is to extend the features and functionality of Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio Code Tips and Tricks from its Docs

• Please puruse the VSCode Variables Reference, if you wish to use variables substitution.

• VSCode Keyword Shortcuts

  • Linux: Link contains PDF.

  • macOS: Link contains PDF.

  • Windows: Link contains PDF.

• Please puruse the VSCode Keybindings, if you wish to use custom keybindings.

  • Optional Keymap Extensions: I recommend the specific keybinding extension that meets your use case through Microsoft. Personally, my preference is Resharper 9 Keybindings. However, it's whatever you wish. Cheers! :)

• Please puruse the VSCode Tips and Tricks to make your experience a little bit more enjoyable.

• Relevant Language Specific Documentation, if you're a nerd like me. :)

  • CSS, SCSS, and Less

  • HTML

  • JavaScript

  • Recommended JavaScript Extensions: No worries, I've got you covered on this. ;-)

  • Working with JavaScript

  • Debugging Recipe

  • JSON

  • PHP

What extensions will I get by selecting this extension package?

Glad, that you've asked! Please find the supervening extensions and subsequent "themes" as well. Of course, I always love to hear your suggestions to improve this extension package. To do so, please create a new issue in the Issues Section. After all, the ultimate goal for this extension pack is convenience at the click of one button.

Themes

• Community Material Theme

• Material Theme Icon

Extensions

• Auto Import

• Auto Close Tag

• Auto Rename Tag

• Beautify

• Better Align

• Better Comments

• Bookmarks

• Bracket Pair Colorizer 2

• Change-Case

• Code Runner

• Code Spell Checker

• Copy Relative Path

• Debugger for Chrome

• DotENV

• Duplicate Selection or Line

• EditorConfig for VS Code

• File Header Comment

• Gremlins Tracker For Visual Studio Code

• HTML Boilerplate

• HTML CSS Support

• HTML Preview

• Import Cost

• Indent Rainbow

• IntelliSense for CSS Class Names In HTML

• Jumpy

• Language-Stylus

• Live Server

• MetaGo

• Multiple clipboards for VSCode

• Open In Browser

• Output Colorizer

• Partial Diff

• Peacock

• PolaCode

• Prettier - Code formatter

• Rewrap

• Save Typing

• SCSS Formatter

• Todo Tree

• VSCode-PDF

• Version Lens

• Visual Studio IntelliCode

• WakaTime

Collaboration & Productivity

• CodeStream: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket PRs and Code Review

• Git Graph

• Git History

• GitHub Pull Requests and Issues

• GitIgnore

• Live Share Extension Pack: This extension pack consist of both the Live Share extension and the Live Share Audio extension, respectively.

• Project Manager

• Settings Sync

Language Support

CSS/Bootstrap/SCSS/Mocha

• CSS Peak

• Sass/Less/Scss/Typescript/Javascript/Jade/Pug Compile Hero Pro

JavaScript

• Babel JavaScript

• ES6 Mocha Snippets

• Node.js Extension Pack

  • ESLint

  • JavaScript (ES6) Code Snippets

  • NPM

  • NPM Intellisense

  • Path Intellisense

  • Search Node_Modules

TypeScript

• TSLint

Markdown

• Markdown All In One

• MarkdownLint

PHP & WordPress

• PHP Productive Pack

• PHP Sniffer & Beautifier

• WordPress Extension Pack, which consists of:

  • ACF-Snippets: Advanced Custom Field Snippets.

  • Autocomplete WordPress Hooks

  • Composer: Provides an interface to Composer dependency manager for PHP. Likewise, it provides schema validation for composer.json configuration files.

  • Elementor Snippets: Code snippets to build Elementor Plugin widgets.

  • phpcs: This linter plugin for Visual Studio Code provides an interface to phpcs. It will be used with files that have the “PHP” language mode.

  • PHP DocBuilder: A simple, dependency free PHP-specific DocBlocking package.

  • PHP Extension Pack: This extension pack consists of both the PHP Debug extension and the PHP IntelliSense extension, respectively.

  • REST Client: Allows you to send HTTP request and view the response in VS Code directly.

  • WooCommerce - Snippets & Autocomplete: Adds WooCommerce snippets and autocompletion of functions, classes, and hooks.

  • WordPress Snippets: A collection of WordPress snippets and autocompletions for VS Code.

  • WordPress Toolbox: The ultimate collection of snippets for every WordPress function, class and constant, complete with argument type hints and brief descriptions, within VS Code.

  • WPCS Whitelist Flags: Adds all WordPress Coding Standards whitelist flags as snippets.

Note: Please be advised that the WordPress Extension Pack recommends standalone installation of the WordPress Coding Standards for PHP_CodeSniffer, which is a collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules ("sniffs") to validate code developed for WordPress. These sniffs ensures code quality and adherence to coding conventions, specifically the official WordPress Coding Standards.

• Please feel free to disable any plugin that you do not wish to have activated from the use of our extension pack. :)

Notes

It is my pledge to update this Extension Package with update extension as needed to perform the job efficiently and effectively. Likewise, the Extensions list will be categorized accordingly and more detailed information regarding plugins will be incorporated in the near future. I will certainly be on the lookup for some helpful Web Development hints and tips to make your experience enjoyable. Cheers! :)

Recommended Tutorial on Visual Studio Code

• Visual Studio Code Crash Course

Recommended YouTube Channels for Web Development

• Academind: Also recommend checking out Maximilian Schwarzmüller's Udemy courses.

• Chris Coyers: Check out Chris' affiliated website CSS Tricks.

• Colt Steele: Also recommend Colt's Udemy courses.

• FreeCodeCamp.org: Check out FreeCodeCamp.org.

• Traversy Media: Also recommend Brad Traversy's Udemy courses.

• Zero To Mastery: Also highly recommend Andrei Neagoie's Udemy courses.

Other Visual Studio Code Extensions

• COBOL Essentials

• Java Essentials

• .NET Core Essentials

• Python Essentials

• Web Development Essentials Pack: A condensed version of the PHP Development Essentials pack for Visual Studio Code, whose main premise is centered around JavaScript ecosystem.

Attributions

Thank you to all the developers who created the extensions that were utilized in this extension pack. Your hard work and dedication is appreciated immensely.

Disclaimer

Please be advised that this is an "off-the-clock" passion project, whose intent is to be utilized by anyone (including my colleagues) who will derive benefit from this one-click installation of popular extensions that I felt was a relevant theme to this Extension Pack. Moreover, the recommendation regarding Udemy courses are from my personal experience that led to my success as a web developer and allowed me to achieve a senior developer role (within two years) whose primary function is to advise management on the current trends, best practices, and standards regarding web, mobile, and SharePoint/Office 365 development.

Accordingly, I am constantly learning and will often make mistakes. Therefore, please assist me in making this Extension Pack better (i.e., formatting of this README or if you care about keeping the CHANGELOG up-to-date) by feeling free to reach out to me.

Signing Off

Please enjoy! Cheers!