How to import a non-Zend PHP project into Zend Studio without copying files?

Question

I am using WAMP on Windows 7 as my development environment. Recently I wanted to test Zend Studio so I installed a trial and wanted to import an existing project into the studio but I see no way of doing it. Normally while developing using WAMP all the project files are under c:\wamp\www\<project folder> directory.

My project doesn't have the following files which are created if the project was created using Eclipse and PDT which I think are needed for a successful project import

• .settings [Folder]
• .project

Projects with these files could be easily imported into Zend by going to

File > Import > General > Existing Projects into Workspace

and the project is recoginized due to the eclipse files being present. But in case where there are no such files and the project was created using simple text editor is there any way in Zend Studio to import a project into workspace without copying all the files.

I just want to make the Zend Studio realize my project file structure on c:\wamp\www\<project folder> directory so I can start coding.

Here I want to clarify that I had changed the default workspace to c:\wamp\www after Zend Studio was started.

When I try to import project using PHP Project from existing directory it shows me this error

Is there any way I can accomplish this easily in Zend Studio?

Answer 1

For such purpose there is a dedicated wizard. Choose File -> New -> PHP Project from Existing Directory. As a location set a path to a folder where your project is located (e.g. c:\wamp\www\) and press finish.

Important thing is that your workspace location has to be different than document root location. In our case workspace should be located in any folder except c:\wamp\www. After project creation Studio maps project in a workspace to the one in document root so any changes in Studio will be visible on the server immediately.