[Typo3-dev] Debugging Typo3/PHP 2 (mini review)

[Stig Nørgaard Færch]

Hi all

As I think this might be important and interesting to other Typo3 
developers I start a new thread on this.
It might not be very new to some, but for me it has opened a new way for 
me to work with Typo3 development.

I have always wanted some better debugging capabilities than the debug() 
function when developing for Typo3.

I have used various free and non-free editors from Homesite to PHPEdit 
to PHPDesigner2005. Now I have turned back to PHPEdit, and spent some 
time trying to get the exciting debugging features working. Yesterday I 
got a breakthrough and today I played with it a bit more, - and with 
some tweaking I got it to work.

So what does PHPEdit offer?
What I have learned so far, is that it's possible to follow the 
variables (arrays, objects...) in realtime in PHPEdit. You can step from 
line to line, or you can setup breakpoints where you want the script to 
take a pause. When it's on break you can examine the variables and how 
they change.
If a script calls another php-file, it's automatically opened in 
PHPEdit, and it jump further into this script - really nice!

It's also possible to see how much time is consumed on different parts 
of the php-files. This is called 'Profiler'.

There is more to tell, but I guess it's best that you try it out yourself.


About the software.
For private persons PHPEdit is a free software(www.phpedit.net). You'll 
have to obtain a priate license. Companies do have to pay(if you buy 
more it's cheaper).
The downside of PHPEdit, is that it's not rockstable. But at least it 
seems much better than earlier.

You will also have to install a little PHP module, DBG, for your PHP 
installation(dd.cron.ru/dbg). There were no complete and ready module 
for php5.0.4, but I followed the instructions and built my own.

I do not know of a completely freeware and open source solution which 
does the same as PHPEdit. Maybe PHPDesigner will use DBG some day.


Hope this will be of some use to someone.

Best Regards
Stig Nørgaard Færch