This tutorial will enable you to setup a PHP Development Environment using Netbeans IDE 6.5 PHP pack (Early Access for PHP) under Windows XP. First, we need to download the tools that we need. Next, we need to have a server configured to run with PhP and database support. The easiest way would be to use a pre-configured package that uses Apache as a server, MySQL and PHP, one reliable distribution that I’m frequently using is the XAMPP packaged which can be dowloaded here. We also need the JAVA Developer KIT (JDK) freely available from Sun Microsystems, and the Netbeans Early Access for PHP. For debugging purposes we need to have the Xdebug extensions for PHP download the client and the modules that corresponds with your PHP version.

To configure our environment run the XAMPP setup, select an arbitrary directory which is more convenient for you, mine is configured to run under F:\Development\xampp\, after installing XAMPP check if it’s running start the XAMPP Control panel and check the services status Apache and MySQL should have a running Status. If not troubleshoot your setup usually you have a conflicting services that uses port:80, i.e IIS server if it happens either stop IIS or change the port used by Apache under your Apache\conf\httpd.conf look for the entry ServerName localhost:80 change the port number for it to work then start Apache. If everything else is alright the server is accessible by typing http://localhost or [http://localhost:portnumber] in your browser. Proceed configuring Apache Security this is self explanatory.