---

What Is New in PHPStorm 2023.3? Enhancing the PHP Development Experience

PHP is a widely-used programming language commonly used for back-end development of applications and websites. PHPStorm 2023.3 is the latest Integrated Development Environment that highly understands your code. It is important to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in order to remain ahead. So, businesses can thrive better using the latest IDE after PHPStorm 2023.2 for their web app development.

The release of PHPStorm 2023.3 is a revolutionary IDE to enhance the PHP development experience. You can find developers working with this latest technology in a top PHP development company Some other software development companies also accept PHPStorm projects. The blog explores the exciting updates and enhancements that this technology includes.

From enhanced debugging capabilities to refined coding assistance, find out how PHPStorm 2023.3 elevates the PHP development experience to new heights.

What Is PHPStorm?

PHPStorm is a popular Integrated Development Environment, providing effective features, tools, and ultimately the best favorable environment for quick and easy PHP development. PHPStorm is a lightning-smart PHP IDE that has a deep understanding of your code. It supports major frameworks like Laravel 9 Magento, Yii, Drupal, Symfony, WordPress, and Joomla.

PHP programming language supports various other languages, frameworks, and tools.

JetBrains developed PHPStorm, which offers comprehensive tools for PHP coding, testing, debugging, and deployment. PHPStorm offers features like Syntax highlighting, code completion, version control integration, and support for various PHP frameworks.

So, it’s a powerful tool for PHP developers. PHPStorm IDE has 600,000 users across the globe to date.

PHPStorm= WebStorm + PHP + DB/SQL

You can hire PHP developers to get your project completed using this technology. However, many software development firms do not work with the latest technologies as they launch. So, with a little research, you can easily find which firms work with PHPStorm and other technologies you want for your project.

Technource has a team of experienced PHP developers who have worked with various projects from different industries. They work with PHPStorm IDE to produce the best-in-class software.

Features of PHPStorm 2023.3

Features of PHPStorm 2023.3 have made PHP development easier for developers. The latest additions are improved after analyzing the pain points of developers. The features and tools of this latest version help developers build apps and websites quickly and effectively.

Here are the key features of PHPStorm.

1. Intelligent coding assistance
2. HTML/CSS/JavaScript Editor
3. Debugging, testing, and profiling
4. Development environment
5. PHP frameworks support

Explore all these features in the space below and understand their descriptions.

1) Intelligent coding assistance

Have a look at the points below explaining intelligent coding assistance by PHPStorm 2023.3.

• Code quality analysis:

PHPStorm checks your code lines against hundreds of codes to inspect and find errors and bugs. Developers can promptly fix errors for most inspections. They can use the shortcut key Alt+Enter and find appropriate options for each inspection.

• Smart PHP code editor:

Smart PHP code editor provides features like Syntax highlighting, supports language mixtures, extended code formatting configuration, smart code completion, code folding, and more. Automated refactoring handles your code with care that helps to handle global projects effectively.

• Easy code navigation and search:

Developers can save time while working on large projects using PHPStorm. They can directly jump to a method and apply it to coding instead of following the old method of building logic for each line of code. Function and variable definition and usage are just one click away on the IDE.

2) HTML/CSS/JavaScript Editor

PHPStorm has WebStorm features associated with JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. PHP is a good backend programming language as it supports many frameworks and other programming languages.

• JavaScript Editor:

The IDE includes the smartest features like JavaScript debugging and unit testing, offering code completion, JSDoc type annotations support, validation and quick fixes, support for JavaScript frameworks, refactoring, and more.

• HTML and CSS Editor:

PHPStorm supports all the cutting-edge web technologies like SASS, HTML5, LESS, SCSS, Jade templates, ECMAScript harmony, Coffee script, and more. The Live Edit option in the IDE lets you make changes quickly in the browser without refreshing the page.

• New Technologies:

PHPStorm supports new technologies like TypeScript, Dart, and CoffeeScript. It helps developers to integrate new features quickly and effectively.

3) Debugging, testing, and profiling

The powerful built-in tools of PHP make testing, debugging, and profiling applications easy for developers and testers.

• Debugging:

Easy debugging or zero-configuration debugging of PHP applications helps to remove errors and produce impeccable solutions in a short time. Visual debuggers make the tedious debugging process easy for developers.

It offers various effective debugging options. You can debug pages in multiple sessions, set breakpoints, evaluate expressions at runtime, and debug remote applications simultaneously. The wide variety of features and easy debugging process provide the best PHP development experience.

• Testing:

PHPStorm allows you to easily create and run PHP unit tests through the context menu by selecting the directory, file, or class. The code coverage feature shows how much the code is covered with different tests.

• Profiling:

Xdebug or Zend debugger makes profiling your applications easy. You can check the aggregated report in PHPStorm IDE. Best PHP frameworks have good debuggers that make the lives of testers easy.

4) Development environment

Open-source Intellij platform backs PHPStorm IDE. You as a developer can enjoy the highly customizable and fine-tuned experience that enhances your workflow.

• Databases and SQL:

Maintaining databases and SQL is a tricky process so PHPStorm offers tools and features for developers’ assistance for different projects. You can modify the structure of databases by editing schemas, executing queries to retrieve information, and analyzing the structure of schemas using UML diagrams.

SQL editor in the PHPStorm IDE allows easy insertion of SQL code with smart code, syntax highlighting, and on-the-fly-code analysis.

• VCS:

PHPStorm ensures consistent user experience across GitHub, SVN, Perforce, and Mercurial. A unified UI helps developers to work with different popular version control systems.

• Other features:

The IDE also supports docker, vagrant support, composer, and more.

5) PHP frameworks support

PHPStorm is perfect when it comes to developing web applications and mobile apps. It goes well with Drupal, CakePHP, Yii, Laravel, WordPress, Zend framework, and more.

These are the features of PHPStorm. Know about the PHP development tools also if you are planning for a web app development. It will help you discuss your project with developers effectively and you can ask them better queries.

What is new in PHPStorm 2023.3?

It is an out-of-the-box technology that provides extended support for TypeScript, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. It offers many new features to PHP developers. Let’s know them in the space below.

1. PHP 8.3 support
2. Improvements to the UI
3. The AI assistant
4. Pest updates
5. Improved Symfony support

Scroll down to read about all these new features of PHPStorm 2023.3 IDE.

1. 1. PHP 8.3 support:

PHPStorm 2023.3 provides full support for the latest version PHP 8.3. Most of the changes in the IDE will be integrated organically, so you may not even notice them happening. The attribute # [\override] of PHP 8.3 can be checked through the PHPStorm engine. PHPStorm 2023.3 presents a warning to developers if any issues occur while overriding the parent method.

1. 1. Improvements to the UI:

Hiding the main toolbar is now possible while working on the default viewing mode in the PHPStorm 23.3 IDE. Developers can remove the toolbar following the process View>Appearance>Uncheck the toolbar option. It also provides the option of reverting to the default tool window layout. You must have already experienced the option of switching between multiple tool window layouts in the 2023.1 version.

You will see the extended form of this functionality in the PHPStorm 2023.3. The default layout option is a new functionality. It allows a quick revert to the default state. However, it is not customizable. Additionally, color coding for editor tabs mirrors the color-coding look in the PHPStorm project tool window.

1. 1. The AI assistant:

AI assistants can generate multi-line blocks of code for developers. When you start writing code in a new line, check if an LLM suggestion is available. It will appear in a grey color snippet. Generating code snippets was rare but now a prompt opens inside the code editor. This AI assistant provides suggestions and helps developers.

Often the job of executing the PHP script or running the configuration and composer action fails for some reason. In this case, the AI assistant determines the main reason for the issue.

1. 1. Pest updates:

PHPStorm updates the Pest Test Framework. It is similar to PHPUnit tests, they can run directly from the PHPStorm.With the help of this tool, you can create personalized expectations to simplify repetitive checks in your tests. You can find the usage of custom expectations with the help of PHPStorm 2023.3 IDE.

1. 1. Improved Symfony support

PHPStorm 2023.3 offers different enhancements for Symfony developers. It includes many features good features from which the new project Wizard is an initializer for Symfony. It allows you to create new Symfony projects according to your requirements. The full IDE support for DQL inside the QueryBuilde method.

The main features are the ability to determine the target model class and complete fields. You can create a switch using PHPStorm 2023.3 by converting doctrine annotations to attributes. The tool has the ability to convert Symfony annotations into their equivalent attributes.

How can PHPStorm 2023.3 features help developers?

Embracing the latest PHP version integrates PHP 8.3 attributes like #[\override], detecting potential issues when overriding parent methods. Ensures a smoother coding journey. Developers can now hide the main toolbar effortlessly via View>Appearance and enhance focus.

The default layout option simplifies navigation across tool Window layouts. Multi-line code blocks by AI assistants help developers build better software solutions. It assists with code snippets and problem diagnosis. The update brings pest test framework integration and empowers developers to run pest tests directly within PHPStorm.

Also Read : Why is the CakePHP the best for web development framework?

This new version introduces the new project Wizard for Symfony initialization and enriched DQL support within the QueryBuilder method. Seamless conversion features from Doctrine and Symfony annotations to their corresponding attributes simplify the Symfony project’s management and development.

Conclusion

PHP developers now have more features and tools to build cutting-edge web applications. They can expedite the development process by utilizing the built-in features. PHPStorm 2023.3 development environment equips PHP developers with high-quality methods and tools to make their development process less painful. Understand the PHPStorm basic features and newly added features mentioned in the blog and use them in your next project.