PHP testing and debugging tool?

[nordal]

This must be the right place to get advice on this:

Can you recommend some good PHP testing and debugging software. Maybe something I can run on my local PC. Some kind of tool that will let you visually trace variables and emulate web server and database functions maybe..

I'm a little new to PHP so excuse me if I'm stumbling over my terms above.

Thanks in advance..

[Phidev]

Usually what I do is that I set up a apache in my workstation to emulate our production server. Then I create vhosts with a non-standard tld, and use eclipse with aptana. I still need to go back and forth between eclipse and my browser but it is much faster and easier than uploading files to a server.

[nordal]

Ok - please let me ask a few newbie add-on quesitons since there are a few new terms to me here.

1. Setting up the Apache server. This requires a linux server installation I guess? Or can I get this running on my WinXP PC? I have an ubuntu partition if that helps |

2. "vhosts with a non-standard tld, and use eclipse with aptana" ...wow... I'm lost I don't expect you to explain me the basics for me to understand this but maybe quick clue?

Thanks
nordal.

[Phidev]

You can install apache in a windows machine as far as I am concerned.
(I haven't used a windows machine in a few years).

vhosts or virtual hosts is an apache option where you can tell the server it will be hosting more than one domain.


tld or top level domain is the last part of a domain (usually com)

so lets assume that I will be working on a site named phidev.com, what I do is that I set a virtual host in my machine named phidev.dev (short for development). This way when I go to my browser and look for phidev.dev, it will render the version in my computer.

For more information about aptana go to aptana.com. I would recommend the plug-in version rather than the stand alone.

[nordal]

Ok that helped a lot - thanks

So you don't actually any debugging tool? I would like something where I could track which variables get which value and see how "it" jumps around in the IF and WHILE loops etc. My problem is I have to debug a (for me complicated) PHP script that I didn't write and keeping track of all these loops, sessions, variables etc in my head doesn't work out well..

Suggestions?

[sk89q]

There are two: Xdebug and Zend Debugger. I use Zend Debugger, only because Zend Studio is configured for it by default, and because Xdebug kept crashing Apache children 1/5th of the time (that's just my own situation, of course).

Edit:

Oh, and dbg.

[crmalibu]

Some php IDE's support debugging like you want by using xdebug, zend debugger, or dbg.

netbeans
phped
eclipse
zend studio
php designer

are some of them off the top of my head.

[Genjutsushi]

I was introduced to Aptana today by a colleague. It's outrageously good, free software for development and debugging.

[priyakochin]

We are using netbeans for debugging and I think it helps a lot!

[nordal]

Ok, several suggestions. I will start looking into them..

Thanks guys!

[webnoob]

There is also an addon for Firebug in Firefox called PHPBug, this is great but requires you to add some simple code to your site to use it.

[nordal]

Sounds interesting - i'll check it out.

Thanks!

[inclick]

We use PHPUnit extensively to make sure "the parts" are functioning as expected. This doesn't check the code itself, but allows you to write tests to ensure the data you are expecting is as it should be.

Thus, if you wrote a series of tests for your application a few months ago of which passed, and run those same tests after performing some code modifications / additions, any errors would be easily identified.

At the application / User Interface level, Selenium has been the going preference. This makes sure the rendering / display layer of your application is behaving as it should.

The key to both of the above is that the processes are automated greatly reducing the time required to complete a QA pass.

[Anton Shatenfeld]

I think that it also worth to try WampServer. This software will help you to set up local test environment faster: Apache, PHP, MySQL.

[artcoder]

I like to duplicate (clone) the PHP application on my own shared webhost account (in sub-domain and/or password protected if needed), so that it can mess with the code instead of messing with the code on client's host or production.

For some reason, I don't like to run PHP applications locally (hassel to set up and clone client application correctly) and I think sometimes it does not simulate a webhost environment exactly.

Being that I debugging on the actually webhost instead of locally, it don't use any debugging packages. I simply insert print_r statement in the relevant pieces of code or print debugging info to logs. Am I old school?

[jumpist]

Being that I debugging on the actually webhost instead of locally, it don't use any debugging packages. I simply insert print_r statement in the relevant pieces of code or print debugging info to logs. Am I old school?

When speed matters, tools with debugging options put you on the fast track. That's about it.

I remember how much difference it made to the speed of my Java coding once I started using Eclipse's debugging options properly.

[nordal]

I have also been using some print, echo and "or die (Error description)" tricks, but in my current case I have some code that is not exactly doing any php errors but more application errors (according to what it was expected to do). Apart from that the code is really complicated to follow so I need a visual tool to see what happens..

But many great suggestions here. I guess I will just start from an end

Thanks a lot!

[JoebeeKenobi]

Am I old school?

If you are old school then I am too

I do think it depends on code complexity though... I've always uploaded to a test directory on my web server and work through it till I'm happy its working as I expect... then I push it out to my team of testers who will then give it a once over and report back. Having an FTP connection open as I update means I've always found it to be pretty fast to upload, test, tweak, upload, test again until I'm happy.

Until recently I hadn't had to work on a real head-banging piece of code and theres certainly some tools mentioned here that I might look into as a result.

Joe

[inclick]

I would have to agree. If the code / project you are working on is small and will stay small, it may make more sense to simply deploy into a "sandbox" and cycle through a code-and-test model. However, once you start getting into a larger project, this methodology will suck up much more time.

If you are writing code or a project that you are expecting to get large, getting automated tests in place early on will save a lot of time down the road. Imagine if a year from now you need to modify a widget or object you created today to make it faster. A small bug in that object could cascade into a number of new "bugs" that may not really be bugs, but results of the change in that earlier object you modified. With automated tests in place, you would be able to identify the root bug easily and not spin your wheels wasting time with its side effects.

-Bing

[Bob42]

I have used MS Expression Web 2 to develop PHP pages. It's intelesense feature will help with PHP coding and you can test it locally using any browser that you have installed. It does not, however, have any debugging capability. You may have to resort to metering your code with echo statements which you can remove after you have figured out what is going on.