High CPU usage in phpDesigner 2008

When opening big PHP projects in phpDesigner 2008, the CPU usage of the phpDesigner process gets stuck at 45-50% on my Core 2 Duo.

This is accompanied by the word “Parsing…” in the status bar at the bottom of the application window next to the project name. What’s actually happening is that phpDesigner is trying to parse all the files in your project, including any binary files (GIF, JPEG, PNG, etc.).

The way to fix it is to exclude file types from the project parser.

1. Project -> Project Manager
2. Select your project and click Edit
3. Select the Fliters tab

Filter pattern determines the type of files that get included or excluded.
Kind determines the whether the filter operation affects the Project, the Parser or Both.

Here’s a sample of the filters I applied to my project which solved the high CPU usage problem:

  Exclude Files
      *.gif    Parser
      *.jpg    Parser
      *.js     Parser
      *.css    Parser
      *.log    Parser

After you’re done, click OK. Close the project and re-open it. The “Parsing…” message should come up for a short while before disappearing. If the “Parsing…” message persists, you’ve probably left out some files from the “Exclude files” list (e.g. *.exe, *.bmp, *.pdf, etc.).