Generating a Project from a Framework Template

Overview

During project creation, PhpStorm can generate a project stub for developing Web applications. The project structure is set up and some sources are generated based on external templates and frameworks downloaded upon your request.

PhpStorm generates project stubs based on the following templates:

• Composer project.
• Drupal module.
• WordPress project.
• HTML5 Boilerplate, Twitter Bootstrap, and Foundation for client-side application stubs.
• Node.js Express for the server-side applications using Node.js. and Node.js Boilerplate
• Dart Web application stubs for developing the client side of applications.
• Meteor project stubs for both the client and the server sides of applications.
• PhoneGap/Apache Cordova/Ionic project stubs.
• AngularJS project stubs.

Generating a HTML5 Boilerplate, Web Starter Kit, Twitter Bootstrap, or Foundation application stub

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose the template to use depending on your preferences and the functionality to be implemented in your application:
   • Empty: choose this option to get just a project folder without any contents.
   • Composer Project: choose this option to have a project stub created using the Composer template.
   • Drupal Module: choose this option to have a Drupal module created and set up.
   • HTML5 Boilerplate: choose this option to use the HTML5 Boilerplate template. This is a starting project template that can be easily adapted to your needs.
   • Web Starter Kit: choose this option to use the Web Starter Kit.
   • Twitter Bootstrap: choose this option to use the Twitter Bootstrap template, which is an elaborate modular toolkit with rich HTML, CSS, and JavaScript support.
   • Foundation: choose this option to use the Foundation framework.
3. The set of controls in the right-hand pane depends on the chosen template.
   1. Specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
   2. From the Version drop-down list, choose the template version to use and click Create.

Generating a Node.js Express application stub

Generating such application stubs requires that Node.js is supported in PhpStorm:

1. Node.js is downloaded and installed on your computer.
2. The Node.js repository plugin is installed and enabled. The plugin is not bundled with PhpStorm, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Installing, Updating and Uninstalling Repository Plugins and Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

Learn more in Node.js

To generate a Node.js application stub:

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose Node.js Express App.
3. In the right-hand pane:
   1. Specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
   2. The path to the Node.js executable file node.exe and to the Node.js package manager file npm.cmd.
   3. The Express template engine to use. From the Template engine drop-down list, choose one of the following:
      • Jade - haml.js successor.
      • EJS - embedded JavaScript.
      • Hogan.js.
      • Handlebars.
   4. The CSS engine to use. From the CSS engine drop-down list, choose one of the following:
      • Plain CSS
      • Stylus
      • Less
      • Compass.
      • Sass.
4. Click Create, when ready. PhpStorm launches the Express Project Generator tool that downloads all the required data, sets up the project structure, and opens the project either in the current window or in a new one, depending on your choice.

Generating a Dart application stub

Generating Dart application stubs requires that Dart is supported in PhpStorm:

1. The Dart SDK is available on your computer.
2. The Dart plugin is installed and enabled. The plugin is not bundled with PhpStorm, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Installing, Updating and Uninstalling Repository Plugins and Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

To generate a Dart application stub:

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose Dart.
3. In the right-hand pane:
   1. Specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
   2. Specify the paths to the Dart SDK and optionally to the Dartium executable file (Windows and Linux)/Dartium application (macOS). PhpStorm detects and displays the Dart version.
   3. To have annotations verified and assertions checked, select the Start Dartium in checked mode checkbox. Learn more from Using Dartium command-line flags.
   Click Create when ready.

If necessary, you can open the Dart page of the Settings dialog box by clicking the Settings button and configure command-line options and a custom user data directory for Dartium.

Generating a Meteor application stub

When you click Create, PhpStorm generates a skeleton of a Meteor application, including an HTML file, a JavaScript file, a CSS file, and a .meteor folder with subfolders. The .meteor/local folder, which is intended for storing the built application, is automatically marked as excluded and is not involved in indexing.

By default, excluded files are shown in the project tree. To hide the .meteor/local folder, click the button on the toolbar of the Project tool window and remove a tick next to the Show Excluded Files option.

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose Meteor App.
3. In the right-hand pane:
   1. Specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
   2. Specify the location of the Meteor executable file (see Installing Meteor).
   3. From the Template drop-down list, choose the sample to generate. To have a basic project structure generated, choose the Default option.
   4. In the Filename text box, type the name for the mutually related .js, .html, and .css files that will be generated. The text box is available only if the Default sample type is selected from the Template drop-dow list.

Generating a PhoneGap/Cordova/Ionic application stub

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose PhoneGap/Cordova App.
3. In the right-hand pane:
   1. Specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
   2. Specify the location of the executable file phonegap.cmd, or cordova.cmd, or ionic.cmd (see Installing PhoneGap/Cordova/Ionic).

When you click Create, PhpStorm generates a skeleton of a PhoneGap/Cordova/Ionic application with the framework-specific structure.

Generating an AngularJS application

This requires that the AngularJS plugin is installed and enabled. The plugin is not bundled with PhpStorm, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Installing, Updating and Uninstalling Repository Plugins and Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

PhpStorm can generate a project stub for developing applications using AngularJS. To generate an Angular stub, use Angular CLI, see Angular. To generate an AngularJS application stub:

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose AngularJS.
3. In the right-hand pane, specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.
4. When you click Create, PhpStorm generates the AngularJS-specific project structure with all the required configuration files based on the AngularJS seed project
5. Download the AngularJS dependencies that contain the AngularJS code and the tools that support development and testing: open the embedded Terminal (View | Tool Windows | Terminal) and type npm install at the command prompt. Learn more about the installation of dependencies in the Install Dependencies section of the readme.md file.

When you click Create, PhpStorm generates a skeleton of a AngularJS application with the framework-specific structure.

Generating a React application with create-react-app

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, choose React App.
3. In the right-hand pane, specify the project folder, the Node.js interpreter to use, and the path to the create-react-app package.
4. Optionally:
   Specify a custom package to use instead of react-scripts during the project generation. This can be one of the packages forked from react-scripts, for example, react-awesome-scripts, custom-react-scripts, react-scripts-ts, etc.
5. When you click Create, PhpStorm generates a React-specific project with all the required configuration files.

Learn more about installing React and creating React applications from React Official website.

Generating a Composer project stub

You can generate a project stub from an existing package using Composer. In this case, Composer will be initialized and one package will be installed during the project stub creation. After that you can use Composer from the command line or through the user interface.

1. Open the New Project dialog
   Choose File | New Project or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen.
2. Choose project type and location In the left-hand pane, select Composer Project. In the Location field on the right-hand pane, specify the folder where the project will be created.
3. Choose composer.phar to use
   Choose how the Composer commands will be executed:
   • To run commands via a globally installed composer executable, choose 'composer' executable and specify its location in the text box.

   • To run commands via the locally installed composer.phar archive, choose composer.phar. Then, either specify the location of the existing composer.phar file in the text box or select the Download composer.phar from getcomposer.org checkbox to download a new instance of the file. The downloaded composer.phar file will be saved under the project root folder specified in the Location field.

     Then, choose one of the configured local PHP interpreters from the PHP interpreter list. Refer to Configuring Local PHP Interpreters for details.

4. Specify PHP interpreter to use
   Choose one of the configured PHP interpreters from the list, see Configuring Remote PHP Interpreters and Configuring Local PHP Interpreters for details.
5. Specify the package to install during the project creation
   In the Package area, select the package from the list, and choose the relevant version from the Version to install list. To search for a package, use the Filter packages search field.
6. Optionally
   In the Command line parameters text box, type the additional command line parameters. For example, to have a package added to the require-dev section of the composer.json file instead of the default require section, type --dev. For more information about using the Composer command line options during installation, refer to the Composer documentation.

Click Create. The create-project Composer command will be invoked with the selected package. As a result, the Composer project will be created, whose configuration and structure depends on the selected package. After that, the created PhpStorm project opens.

Generating a WordPress application stub

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, select WordPress Plugin.
3. In the right-hand pane, specify the folder where the project will be created. In the WordPress Installation Path text box, specify the folder where WordPress is installed. This folder should contain the wp-admin and wp-includes subdirectories. Click Create to start the project stub generation.
4. If the newly created project is outside the WordPress installation folder, configure it as an external library by adding it to the list of included path.
   1. Open the Settings / Preferences Dialog by pressing Ctrl+Alt+S or by choosing File | Settings for Windows and Linux or PhpStorm | Preferences for macOS, and click PHP under Languages & Frameworks.
   2. On the PHP page that opens, add the path to the WordPress installation folder to the Include Paths list: click the button and specify the path to the installation folder in the dialog box that opens. Learn more in Configuring Include Paths.

Generating a Drupal module stub

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, select Drupal Module.
3. In the Location field on the right-hand pane, specify the folder where the project will be created.
4. Specify the root folder of the Drupal installation and choose the version of Drupal to use, the supported versions are 6, 7, and 8.
5. Select the Set up PHP | Include paths checkbox to have Drupal include paths automatically configured for the project. After you leave the dialog box, the following paths will be added to the Include Paths list on the PHP page: <drupal installation root>/includes, <drupal installation root>/modules, and <drupal installation root>/sites/all/modules

Later you can change the Drupal installation and re-configure the include paths on the Frameworks page as described in How do I change Drupal settings?

PhpStorm generates a project stub in accordance with the selected Drupal version. For Drupal 8, a module_name.info.yml file is generated where information about the module is provided.

Generating a Joomla! project stub

1. Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.
2. In the left-hand pane, select Joomla! Integration.
3. In the Location field on the right-hand pane, specify the folder where the project will be created.
   • Joomla installation path
   • Project type (component, module or plugin)

   PhpStorm shows balloons with notifications about the missing Joomla! code styles, namespaces etc. These elements can be installed straight away by clicking the corresponding links. The notifications are duplicated in the Status Bar, and in the Events tool window.

PhpStorm creates a stub Joomla! project that contains a PHP class <project name>.php and <project name>.xml manifest file.

Refer to the section Joomla! and to Joomla! site.