Pros and Cons

I have to agree with the author. As a Delphi (for desktop applications) developer I find Delphi for PHP a very familiar tool and the structure of units and forms I use everyday in my desktops apps. I was initially quite disappointed with Delphi for PHP (having downloaded the 1 day trial of the software from CodeGear) due to the following reasons:
- no built-in FTP feature (this is standard in PHP IDEs), as mentioned by the author
- in the Data Explorer it is not possible to see the data held in a database table, only the structure can be examined
- no remote debugging is offered
- repetitive error message when trying to locally debug an app:
"DBG: Failed to start debug session..." (this may have been due to expiration of the trial)

However, once I'd found the sample/example applications, I was very impressed. There is a wide variety of examples: Ajax, HTTP Authentication, Canvas drawing, Internationalisation, Layouts, Main Menus, Page Controls, Charts, Templates (using Smarty engine), Web Services and various database examples.

Basically, it would be much easier for me to create desktop-type applications with a familiar look-and-feel for the web, using Delphi for PHP. The database connectivity shortcuts are definitely one of the major timesavers. I will be purchasing the product very shortly, however, I think it will take a few releases before Delphi for PHP will really come into its own.

I also has that problem with the trial expirying one day after I downloaded it. I could not try it right away, so it expired before I even have installed the program.

I solved that problem by turning back the clock to the date of when I downloaded the program. Surprisingly, it worked! ;-)

As for the DBG, I see an icon in the Windows tray bar. If you do not see it, may be you had some installation problem.