3rdRail revolutionizes web development with a completely integrated, rapid visual development approach and component framework for PHP. Delphi’s proven and familiar RAD approach means you are quickly up to speed and productive. The powerful PHP editor and debugger increase coding speed and efficiency. Connectivity with leading databases provides seamless database access, and the integrated VCL for PHP component class library help developers quickly and visually create PHP web applications and integrate PHP open source components. 3rdRail is the fast way to build powerful and reliable PHP web applications.

3rdRail includes an integrated PHP 5 class library called VCL for PHP. A customizable palette of over 50 reusable components include buttons, labels, check boxes, images, DHTML menus, flash objects, grids, tree views, list boxes and more. Database components are available for accessing databases, tables, queries, and stored procedures, as well as data grids and navigation. Version 2 of the VCL for PHP adds native Oracle components, Zend Framework components as well as other updates and enhanced documentation.

3rdRail standardizes database connectivity and includes a collection of pre-built database components that make it much simpler to build apps that connect to databases. 3rdRail includes native components for MySQL, Oracle and CodeGear InterBase. The Data Explorer supports drag-and-drop database application creation with connectivity to MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Sybase, SQL Anywhere, DB2 and InterBase. Support for all other PHP supported databases is available via ADOdb.

AJAX is a popular method for building dynamic Web 2.0 sites and 3rdRail includes AJAX-enabled components to help you on your way to building modern looking interactive web sites. Additionally, AJAX enablement is built into the core of the VCL for PHP framework, so you can add AJAX capabilities to virtually any PHP code. 3rdRail 2.0 also includes a new visual HTML Template editor for editing HTML and creating templated forms that include HTML with embedded PHP.

Extend the VCL for PHP at any time with your own components or enhancements being offered through the open source PHP platform. 3rdRail makes it easy to create your own components and install customized packages to use in the IDE. The VCL for PHP makes it simple for you to develop new classes, because every component is built in pure PHP. Simply place these components into forms and use them in your applications. VCL for PHP components have built-in properties, methods, and events that make web interface development a snap.

Managing and organizing you PHP code has never been easier. The Project Manager lets you view and organize project files while the Structure Pane shows the hierarchy of components displayed on the designer. The Code Explorer makes navigation straightforward and the Data Explorer enables you to browse database server-specific schema and objects. Version 2.0 adds many enhancements including a new file browser, multi language support, and a Data Viewer window for browsing database tables and executing queries.

A sophisticated editor and debugger can make the normally frustrating process of tracking down bugs and errors in the code quick and painless. 3rdRail has a customizable source code editor that has color syntax highlighting, bookmarks to ease navigation through large files, and Code Insight to assist in the selection of properties and methods. The integrated debugger helps find and fix errors, view breakpoints, and local and global variables. A powerful new PHP performance profiler to help locate application bottlenecks down to a single line of PHP code so you can improve the performance of your Web apps. 3rdRail 2.0 includes many enhancements including faster CodeInsight and new Error Insight to help you locate errors in your source code as you type, code folding to make it easier to navigate your source, change tracking to identify changed lines of code, and much more.