XDEBUG

What is Xdebug?
Xdebug is a PHP extension providing:
 Enhanced variable display
 Enhanced stack traces
 Function traces
 Code coverage analysis
 Remote debugging
 Code profiling
What we are talking about
Code Coverage Analysis:
Tells you which lines of script (or set of scripts) have been
executed during a request. With this information you can

Remote debugging:
Step through debugging with a remote client via the DBGP
protocol

Code profiling:
Finding bottlenecks in your code and visualize those with an
external tool such as KCacheGrind or WinCacheGrind.
Remote Debug Configuration
 extended_info – Enabled by default.
Allows breakpoints.
 idekey – Identifier for the debug session.
Most clients will restrict to requests from
a single idekey value.
 remote_autostart – Disabled by default.
Will start remote debugging with every
request.
Remote Debug Configuration
 remote_enable – Defaults to 0 (off).
Enable remote debugging
 remote_handler – Defaults to DBGP.
You should never have to use anything
else so just leave it.
 remote_host – Remote host with which
Xdebug will connect at the start of an
Xdebug session.
Remote Debug Configuration
 remote_log – Default value “”. Log all
remote debugger communication. You
will probably never need this unless you
are writing a client or have connectivity
issues.
 remote_mode – Default value is “req”.
Determines how the session is initiated.
“req” will start the session with every
request. “jit” will start the session when
an error condition occurs.
Remote Debug Configuration
 remote_port – Defaults to 9000. TCP/IP
port of the remote client which which
Xdebug will connect. Most clients
default to 9000 so unless you are forced
to debug multiple remote machines, just
leave it.
Xdebug Profiling
 Find bottlenecks
 Timings for optimization
 Similar to Cachegrind but no memory
data
 Output format is standard so it can be
read by standard Cachegrind tools:
Kcachegrind, QCacheGrind,
WinCacheGrind, IDE plugins, etc.
Profiling Configuration
 profiler_append – Default value 0 (off).
Append the profiler output to the same file if
the profile_output_name will allow.
 profiler_enable – Default value 0 (off).
Enable profiling for all requests and script
executions. If you are doing web request
profiling, use profiler_enable_trigger
instead. This should normally be used only
for CLI profiling and configuring via
environment variable.
Profiling Configuration
 profiler_enable_trigger – Default value 0
(off). Allow triggering of profiling via
request query parameter or cookie with
the name XDEBUG_PROFILE. The
value is optional and ignored.
 profiler_output_dir – Defaults to “/tmp”.
The directory in which the profiler output
file will be written.
Profiling Configuration
 profiler_output_name – Default value is
“cachegrind.out.%p” where %p is the
process ID of the process running the
profile. There are many variable options
like %s for the file name. See the
Xdebug documentation for details: http
://xdebug.org/docs/all_settings#
trace_output_name
Xdebug Remote Debugging
 Line by line stepping through code.
 Break points to stop at particular areas of
code.
 Variable inspection to be able to see
variable values at a line of code. Death to
var_dump.
 Variable setting to allow replacement of
variable values at runtime.
 The single best way to troubleshoot bugs.
Code Coverage
 Code coverage is measure up to which
the source code is being tested by a test
suite
 If code coverage is high the source code
contains more bugs
 If code coverage is less then sorce code
contains less bugs
Code Coverage Analysis
 xdebug.coverage_enable
Type: boolean, Default value: 1, Introduced in
Xdebug >= 2.2 If this setting is set to 0, then
Xdebug will not set-up internal structures to
allow code coverage.

 boolean xdebug_code_coverage_started()
Returns whether code coverage is active.
Returns whether code coverage has been
started.
Code Coverage Analysis
 void xdebug_stop_code_coverage( [int
cleanup=true] )

Stops code coverage

This function stops collecting information, the

information in memory will be destroyed. If you
pass "false" as argument, then the code coverage
information will not be destroyed so that you can
resume the gathering of information with the
xdebug_start_code_coverage() function again.
Code Coverage Analysis
 array xdebug_get_code_coverage()
Returns code coverage information
Returns a structure which contains
information about which lines were executed
in your script (including include files).

 void xdebug_start_code_coverage( [int

options] )
Starts code coverage
Start/Stop Xdebug Sessions
You can start and stop Xdebug remote
debugging and profiling sessions in many
ways:
 IDE integration
 Browser Plugin (Chrome/Firefox/Safari)
 URL parameter
 Cookie
 CLI environment variable
 Xdebug config
Thank You