There are a number of different versions of Eclipse. We need to work with the version that is most specifically geared for PHP development work. Why do I recommend Eclipse PDT over the following candidates for a Drupal debugging environment? Probably because of my background in Java development. I've worked with NetBeans and Borland's JBuilder over the years. I've never really worked with Komodo or Zend Studio, so I have no opinion of their merits. I am satisfied that when it comes to heavy lifting, the Eclipse community is probably as diverse and supportive as any.
Source for the following table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_integrated_development_environments#PHP
In this demonstration project we are selecting Eclipse PDT, by starting here. Make a note of this link, because we can also link to the XDebug page later from here (where it says 'PDT and XDebug').
 What we do is select where it says 'All-In-One Windows 32-bit' and we will be taken to the following site:
 I recommend selecting the faster Zend option, which takes us to the following screen:
 Definitely download the Windows version, pdt-2.1.0-win32-x86, which will show up in your download directory like this:
 Extract this self-installing application to the root of your C:\ drive.
 This is how you install the Galileo version of Eclipse (3.5). For all intents and purposes relating to this demonstration project, the Galileo version of Eclipse (3.5) functions pretty much as its predecessor, the Ganymede version (a/k/a Eclipse 3.4). Later, when I demonstrate project-related settings in Eclipse, I will be referring to the slightly earlier Ganymede version. Do you find any significant differences in these two versions of Eclipse for purposes of debugging PHP code? If you do, please share your experience by making a comment in the comment section below.
After all is said and done, your eclipse directories should look like this:  |
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How to download and install Eclipse |
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