Netbeans does not find all my include_once paths

Question

I've just imported a largish php project into NetBeans. Under the top directory I have "app1", "app2", "app3", etc. (each of which are mapped to a domain name), then a "shared" directory for (you guessed it) files used by all the apps.

In app1/route/Search.inc it has:

include_once "../shared/lib/search.inc";

But ctrl-B on this line does nothing. Makes sense, from NetBeans point of view of this as one large application, it should be "../../shared/lib/search.inc". But, for the way the apps are configured, the above is correct, and NetBeans is wrong.

How do I tell NetBeans it needs to go one extra directory up?

Under Include Path, I tried adding "/full/path/to/app1" (so then "../shared/lib/" would be found) (I tried Private tab, then Shared tab, with same results.) But it rejects that, telling me the app1 directory is already part of the application. There is no "Do what I say, and don't think about it, slap!" button.

Adding symbolic links in the file system, just for NetBeans, feels a bit ugly.

I'm wondering if I should make one NetBeans project per app? (I actually tried that first, but as all apps are in the same git repository it gave a lot of noise, so I assumed that was the wrong way.)

ADDITIONAL: I'm most interested in the answer to my last question - is it standard practice to keep each app as a separate NetBeans project, even if they are all in the same git repository?

Product Version: NetBeans IDE 8.0.2 (Build 201411181905)
Updates: NetBeans IDE is updated to version NetBeans 8.0.2 Patch 1
Java: 1.7.0_79; OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 24.79-b02
Runtime: OpenJDK Runtime Environment 1.7.0_79-b14
(on linux Mint 17)

Answer 1

Make shure that all files of your project are in the project's include path (righ click project -> properties -> include path). Usually there is only the "global include path", which you configure in the NetBeans settings (e.g. to point to your PEAR directory). Add all directories which contain source code you want auto completion for to this include path. Hint: This include path has nothing to do with the include_path used in PHP itself.