PHP Tools for Visual Studio - Documentation

Syntax Highlighting

The Syntax highlighting feature makes PHP code more readable as any other language file integrated in Visual Studio. Script code blocks, variables, keywords, strings, script tags and comments are distinguished to make programming easier.

PHP/HTML syntax highlighting

Moreover, when PHP Editor finds a syntax error or a logical error, the corresponding expression is underlined with a red wave and the error detail is listed in the Visual Studio Error List tool window.

Settings

PHP Editor respects standard Visual Studio colors, and defines additional PHP colors. The colors are themed, and thus work well on the both Dark and Light themes.

color names

Modify the default Fonts and Colors in the menu Tools | Options, section Environment > Fonts and Colors.

Used Standard Colors:

  • text
  • identifier
  • comment
  • keyword
  • operator
  • punctuation
  • number
  • string
  • string - escape character
  • user types - classes

PHP Colors

  • PHP - Variable
  • PHP - Label
  • PHP - Encapsulated Variable
  • PHP - Unnecessary Code
  • PHP - Inline Code
  • PHP - TODOs
  • PHP Doc - Delimiter
  • PHP Doc - Variable
  • PHP Doc - Tag

Regex Syntax Colors (Visual Studio 2019 and newer)

  • Regex - Alternation
  • Regex - Anchor
  • Regex - Comment
  • Regex - Grouping
  • Regex - Character Class
  • Regex - Other Escape
  • Regex - Quantifier
  • Regex - Self Escaped Character
  • Regex - Text

Used HTML Colors

  • HTML Server-Side Script
  • HTML Element Name
  • HTML Attribute Value
  • HTML Attribute Name
  • HTML Comment
  • HTML Operator
  • HTML Tag Delimiter

Short Open Tags

<? // <-- short open tag, usually not enabled

?>

The editor respects the short_open_tag directive in the corresponding php.ini file. By default, it enables them for PHP < 7.0. Otherwise, the short open tags are treated as XML tag and their content is not colorized as PHP code.

To override the default behavior and enable the short open tags, edit the Visual Studio project file (.phpproj file), and add the following XML fragment:

<PropertyGroup>
  <LanguageFeatures>ShortOpenTags</LanguageFeatures>    
</PropertyGroup>

Reload the project if necessary.

Note, short open tags were disabled by default since PHP 7.0.

PHPDoc Highlighting

PHPDoc content (within /** */ comments) is also colorized. Its tags contained type names and variable names are colored according to the settings above.

TODO Highlighting

User's to-do comments are both listed in Visual Studio's Task List window, and highlighted in the source code.

to-do highlighting

Type Names and Highlighting

Type names are highlighted with the color respecting the color name User Types - Classes.

Highlighting braces

Matching pairs of braces are automatically highlighted as well. Upon moving the keyboard caret at the outer position next to any brace ((, ), [, ], <, >), it gets highlighted together with its matching brace.

PHP brace highlighting

You can also jump between matching braces using the keyboard shortcut (by default Ctrl+]).

In the Visual Studio 2019 and newer, matching parenthesis within PCRE are also highlighted.

Bracket pair colorization

When dealing with nested brackets, it can be hard to figure out which brackets match and which do not. Colorizing bracket pairs with different colors makes it easier to read the code.

PHP bracket pairs colorized

In Visual Studio 2022, there is an extension that adds colors to bracket pairs - Rainbow Braces. PHP Code is supported since version 1.0.23. At this time available from CI Build.

If you are interested in more details about this feature, please read this article.

Switching Themes

When switching to a different color theme (e.g. Dark Theme), all built-in colors are switched as well to their default, respecting the new theme. PHP colors respect the Dark and Light themes.

See also