Working on PHP projects on a remote dev server via sFTP

Question

I'm looking for an editor that can read and write remote PHP files via sFTP. I'm talking about not having a local copy of my PHP files.

But here is the tricky part : I'd like that editor to be aware of all the files in my projet, and provide me with intellisense-like auto-completion, classes structures, etc...Just like Eclipse PDT, Aptana and NetBeans do, but with the "remote project storage and awareness" feature.

Do you know about any editor with these features ?

Thanks !

Edit : I'm absolutely not working on my production server, but on a development server. It's mostly because I need to works under windows on my desktop PC and don't want host my projects locally for various compatibility and tools availability reasons, and use linux as a server OS.

Answer 1

May not be a good idea:

Warnings:

1) Disconnect: What if you are coding and your connection gets lost, you may get a corrupted file or loose some work. Disconnects occur much more often that power loss in your home/office, and you can safeguard by using a small UPC - that will give a minute to save your work.

2) SCM: Use git, mercurial, svn or what have you, to speed up deployment. Increases ability to share code, backup and roll backs.

3) Auto completion will not work very well over network connection, because ( at least in NetBeans) it scans your project to figure out what you want to auto-complete. It takes a few seconds even on a local machine.

Solution: If after all of the above you still want to do it, you can trick your editor by mounting remote storage as a local drive. You didn't specify your OS but on Mac and Linux - you can easily do it - take a look at Fuse. http://fuse.sourceforge.net/

Khmm apperatnly there was an attempt to port Fuse to Windows: http://fuse4win.4host.ru/

Hope that helps

Update

There are also a few commercial products - one was recommended by macworld I think ( they are both for Mac and Windows)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDrive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpanDrive

Answer 2

On Windows the Zeus editor can do seamless ftp/sftp editing.

These remote ftp files can also be defined to belong to a project/workspace.

But the Zeus PHP intellisensing will only work for local files.