DraftCode for PHP IDE Ratings and Reviews

Great start but iOS falls short?

Ok, l know this is a huge undertaking and iOS is severely limited so far as a development tool. What issue this app seems to suffer from is as a developer, I can’t really work on a plugin in WordPress while WP is running.

Pretty ineffective to have to start and stop WP each time to edit a file and then see the result rendered.

Update: I contacted the developer and he has been VERY responsive to my concerns. He has provided some ideas for workflow that seem acceptable. Running web apps on iOS is no small feat. My hope is that this app will be well supported and the product will continue to be updated.

Great start, but has some severe problems

While the app does exactly what it says, there's some things you should know before dropping the 10 bucks:
- The Javascript messages viewer is always empty no matter how many times you try to print through the console.
- You can't Cmd+F or Cmd+G to quickly find strings or lines. This is a huge blow to working on larger documents.
- You can't quickly navigate lines because tapping any line only brings you to the front, and Home/End don't work.
- Scroll position jumps to either the top or bottom of the document every time you switch between files.
- You can't work from an existing workspace folder; you MUST copy a folder into the program's folder in order to work on it, or manually import individual files. That means if you're working on a number of files you have on Dropbox, every edit you make must be manually saved, file by file, back into the original folder.
- And this is made doubly difficult by the fact that copying between the two locations is a nightmare on iOS. I can't even paste my project into the DraftCode folder anymore because I just get an error saying "Couldn't communicate with a helper application". This is actually a Dropbox problem, but it's one that you have to be aware of since you can't work straight from the Dropbox folder.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the detailed feedback. v1.12 should address some of those issues you have raised. If you can spare some time for testing and additional feedback, please get in touch with support.

Good tool for learning PHP on the go

I use it to learn PHP and web development while commuting. Not sure how well it would support a production environment. I want to start learning Laravel too and I am not sure it can be accommodated in this environment. I am amazed at what they did get working in iOS and the product interface is really good and is fast.

Great app

I snagged this app to allow me to work on WordPress sites from my iPad while traveling / flying. Out the gate I ran into an issue as I think there was a WP update at the same time. Thomas was responsive and helped me through the issue as well as updated the app. Great responsiveness and I’m thrilled with the app!

Developer Response ,

Thanks for making the time to write a review. Glad it all worked out!

A Top Player!

I find this mobile IDE to be becoming a trusty tool in my workflow belt. While, there are bugs (especially the undo roulette, lol), I will say, at this moment, this is the best of its kind of app on the market, in my opinion. I look forward to following the developers as you all continue to enhance this wonderful application.

Terrific app!

I love this app.

If you’ve used (or heard of) WAMP or MAMP, this is like that, in a “lite” version.

When I travel - or even when I’m just home sitting in bed - I often prefer my iPad to a laptop. DraftCode let’s me work on web applications without dealing with remote servers or even needing an internet connection

Sure, it isn’t a 100% replacement for working with a full-featured IDE on a laptop, but it’s great for knocking out prototypes or demos, working on a plane, or any time mobility is the #1 consideration.

great developer option

Great to finally have a way to edit and run php, javascript, html on an ipad whether connected or not to the internet.

Solid App!

Well maintained; functionality true to description. Many thanks 🙏

Great for practice

It’s a little buggy. The keyboard gets in the way of me scrolling. Sometimes I can’t scroll at all.

Was good

Has huge issues and cant be relied upon. Too many issues to work around or even mention here. Dont expect this to work well. I hope that they fix it.