LazyWebdev - Introduction

A snippet for lazy web developpers, a powerful hotkey to save much time. Used to live preview php or other web languages with PhpStorm, Dreamweaver, Sublime, Notepad, Atom or any text editor.

The problem

After an unsuccesful search for an PHP IDE that embeds an efficient live preview, I just realized that I was the only one who could provide it to myself. Here's how it works :

• Your IDE is on a windows' desktop
• Your browser (Firefox, Edge, Chrome or whatever) is on a secondary virtual windows' desktop.

Basically, to review any change, you'd need at least : To press CTRL + S ; then to press CTRL + ALT + RigthArrow ; then to press F5.

And if you switched your currently-edited file, you're screwed : you'll have to type the file's address in the browser's addres bar.

The solution

Thanks to AutoHotKey, you won't. With this script, what you only have to do is pressing CTRL + Q and your file will be saved, your desktop will switch to the next one and your browser will refresh to the file that you're editing. It's been created for PHPStorm but it can be used or adapted to any IDE. IDEs usually display the full path from the root to the current file in their window title ; if yours doesn't and if it displays the file's name, Lazy Wedev script will look for it in your root directory and select the occurence with the most recent last-edited date.

HOW TO USE IT

1) First of all : Install AutoHotkey

Link : https://www.autohotkey.com/download/ahk-install.exe

2) Have a look at AHK's wiki, if needed

https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm#s12

3) Download the script and edit it if needed

Let's look at the settings that you can change with the initial variables of the script :

• YourIde is the name of your IDE as it's displayed in its title bar
• YourBrowser is the name of your browser as displayed in its title bar
• YourRegx is the default regular expression used to get the file's path in the window's title. We'll later see how it works.
• AlternativeRegx is an alternative regular expression that is used if your IDE's title bar doesn't display the project's root-path to the file
• LocalDir this variable must be left blank if your IDE does display the root-path to the file int its title bar. If it doesn't, fill this variable with the full path to your project's root folder's. Example : C:\xampp\htdocs\
• ServerUrl is your root folder trough HTTP. It must but the path to your project's root

YourRegx to its default value will select the file's path after "..." and before " -", just as this "DEV (C:\xampp\htdocs\DEV) - ...\ my_folder\my-file.php - PhpStorm" .

AlternativeReg to its default value will select anything before a combination of a point and letters that is followed by any non-letter character, like a whitespace or "-". See the example "my_test-file222.php - Notepad".

4) If you need to build you own RegEx, have a look at this AHK RegEx tester : https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/16400-ahk-regex-tester-v21/

5) When AHK is installed, double-click your script to launch it If you want to edit it afterwise, right-click AHK's tray icon, then "Edit script". Once you saved it, don't forget to right-click AHK's icon and "Reload script".

The code

The full uncommented code :

^q::

YourIde := "PhpStorm"

YourBrowser := "Firefox"

YourRegx := "(?<=\.\.\.\\)(.*)(\.[a-z]*)(?=.*)"

AlternativeRegx := "(.*)(\.[a-z]*)(?=.*)" 

LocalDir := ""

ServerUrl := "http://localhost/DEV/" 

WinGetTitle, IdeTitle, A 
IfNotInString IdeTitle, %YourIde%
{
Exit
}

Send ^{s}


If (LocalDir) {
Msgbox test
	RegExMatch(IdeTitle,AlternativeRegx,File)
	MostRecentTime :=

	Loop, Files, %LocalDir%*%File%, R
	{
    		FileGetTime, ThisFileTime

   		if (MostRecentTime < ThisFileTime)
    		{

        		MostRecentTime := ThisFileTime
        		FilePath:=A_LoopFileFullPath
    		}
	}

	FileName := StrReplace(FilePath, LocalDir, "")
	AddressBar := StrReplace(FileName, "\", "/")

}else{

RegExMatch(IdeTitle,YourRegx,File)
AddressBar := StrReplace(File, "\", "/")
}


Send ^#{Right} 

sleep, 500

WinGetTitle, BrowserTitle, A 
IfNotInString BrowserTitle, %YourBrowser%
{
Msgbox Error : %YourBrowser% is not the active window.
Exit
}

Send !{d}

SendInput %ServerUrl%%AddressBar%

Send {Enter}