Aptana Studio 3 Beta Update

The Aptana team has been hard at work on an update to the Studio 3 Beta which is now available for download. Be sure to read the "Getting Started" notes since some key setup requirements are described there.

We have also redesigned our website which should make it a lot easier to navigate. We have a section that describes the Studio 3 Beta, its capabilities and a set of screencasts as well as links to the download.

For this Studio 3 Beta Update we've made a bunch of changes and dozens of improvements but here are some of the main highlights:

Naming

We've changed the name to more accurately reflect what Studio is all about. Studio was designed as a multi-platform, multi-language tool for web development professionals. Previously, we had multiple products (Studio 2 and RadRails 2). These have all been improved and merged into the new Studio 3 code base. Studio 3 will include development using client-side technologies such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS as well as server-side technologies Ruby/Rails, Python/Django as well as PHP. Yes, PHP.

PHP Support

We've gotten overwhelming freedback (including screams and rants) from our developer community requesting re-introduction of PHP support. (It was deprecated in Studio 2). So, we are bringing it back. in phases. Studio 3 Beta includes basic colorization support but we'll be adding outlining and content assist as part of an update to Studio very soon.

File Transfer

One extremely popular feature for web developers that we've carried forward from Studio 2 is support for various file transfer mechanisms. This include transfer protocols such as FTP, SFTP and FTPS. We've also added the file synchronization option which allows you to keep a remote site and your local copy in sync. This is available from the Deploy Wizard or from within the Project Explorer.

Ruby Deployment and Heroku

A new application deployment wizard includes support for the above mentioned file transfer protocols as well as Ruby/Rails application deployment to servers using Capistrano. We've also worked with the good folks at Heroku to build deployment capability. So, after setting up a free account at Heroku you are able to quickly deploy your application directly from the wizard or use the built-in Heroku commands from your project's Gear menu.

Additional Improvements

• Content Assist is now available for PHP and Ruby, and the Content Assist for JavaScript is much improved.
• The Find Bar now supports replacement of text as well as searching. (To use the find bar, type Ctrl-F or Cmd-F with focus on an Aptana editor pane.)
• The Outline view now has a search box
• More eclipse views are now themed
• There is now a Zen Coding ruble. Use Ctrl-E (or Cmd-E on macs) to expand.
• CSS color assist is back
• Improved Content Assist for HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Many more features are still in progress, so stay tuned.

As always, we welcome your feedback, bugs and reactions to what we've built and you can provide that in our Support area. Thank you!

Originally published in Aptana Blog. View original article.