Debugging PHP scripts in Eclipse

Debugger are full-featured PHP debugger engine. They are interactive tools that allows
you to debug PHP scripts locally or remotely, from an IDE or from the console. There is 3
debugger on the market, XDEBUG (open source) , ZEND (closed source), DBG (commercial
but source code available) by luck all are free 🙂

I recommend you to develop with Eclipse PDT: The #Eclipse Foundation has released the 1.0
of the #Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT) project. #Eclipse PDT is a set of tools and
frameworks that enhance the productivity of developers using PHP, a popular, general-purpose
dynamic language that is especially suited for development of web applications and web services.

I have prepared a HowTo also for eclipse PDT, but it is still not ready for prime time.

DBG

XDEBUG

ZEND

Debugger Extension can be downloaded from Zend Downloads

Zend debugger in #Eclipse also works for MySQL statements!

Installing ZEND debugger in #Eclipse

The Zend Executable Debugger #Eclipse plugin adds PHP debugging capabilities to the #Eclipse environment.

Add the following remote location to the eclipse manager, even if you have eclipse PDT

http://downloads.zend.com/pdt

ZEND debugging mysql statement

You’ll have to configured the PHP binary included with the ZEND debugger to be able to debug SQL queries. Search for a PHP.ini in your eclipse/plugins directory, you’ll find 2 files.

Ex:

• E:\eclipse\bin\PDT\plugins\org.zend.php.debug.debugger.win32.x86_5.2.12.v20071210\resources\php4\php.ini
• E:\eclipse\bin\PDT\plugins\org.zend.php.debug.debugger.win32.x86_5.2.12.v20071210\resources\php5\php.ini

And add these line in one of these files according to your PHP version

extension_dir = "xampp_path/php/ext"
extension="xampp_path/php/ext/php_mysql.dll"
extension="xampp_path/php/ext/php_mysqli.dll"
include_path =".;xampp_path/php;"

Installing Zend debugger server in XAMPP

Please note that the Zend Executable Debugger is not available from the #Eclipse PDT update Manager, so download ZEND debugger (Free) from Zend Downloads, you must extract the zip ZendDebugger-5.2.12-cygwin_nt-i386.zip.

In the zip file, you’ll see multiple directories

Use the version that match the one in XAMPP (you have note at chapter A, for me 5.2.3 so copy files from 5_2_x_comp) and copy the dll in
xampp_path\php\extensions\

Open the file php.ini located at xampp_path\apache\bin\php.ini
and add these keys if they do not already exist:

[XDebug]
;; Only Zend OR (!) XDebug
;zend_extension_ts="\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"
zend_extension_ts="\xampp\php\extensions\ZendDebugger.dll"
zend_debugger.allow_hosts=127.0.0.1
zend_debugger.expose_remotely=always

; this is to see output while debugging implicit_flush = On 

Switch off all other debugger as it may conflict with Zen

eaccelerator.enable="0"

;extension=dbg.dll

:extension=xdebug.dll

Restart apache, check for proper operations by going to http://localhost

Debugging PHP in #Eclipse PDT

Go to Debug dialog for creating and managing run configurations

• Choose as Server Debugger: Zend Debugger
   
• Choose as PHP Server: XAMPP
• File should point to the root of your #Joomla! installation ex: /PROD2/index.php because in XAMPP htdocs directory I have a subdirectory /PROD2 with #Joomla! 1.5 inside
• Remove the option Break at First Line
• Keep URL to Auto Generate

As seen in the screen shot below

Now click on button configure

• Give a Name, not important here, lets keep XAMPP
• Enter the root URL that points to the document root of this server, for me it is http://localhost/PROD2

Go to tab "Path Mapping"

• As Path on server enter E:\xampp\htdocs\PROD2
• Choose Path in Workspace /PROD2

Confirm all windows, and you can now start the debugger by clinking on debug button

You’re done, you can now set breakpoint and debug #Joomla! or your code easily

Installing #Joomla in #Eclipse

We will now install #Joomla 1.0.15 and #Joomla 1.5.1 (newest version at time of writing into eclipse)
Create two new PHP project in your workspace, one name joomla1.0.x the other joomla1.5.x for example

Attention: the root workspace must be located at xampp_path/htdocs

Setting Zend Debugger in #Eclipse PDT for #Joomla!

In the PHP perspective of eclipse, go to the menu debug