CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpdebuggingwordpress
Extrakun
Extrakun

Reputation: 19325

PHP and WordPress: Debugging

I am writing some plugins and themes for WordPress, and I finding it hard to debug because somehow by the time the page has loaded, $_GET, $_POST and $_REQUEST are all empty. Even with error reporting set on, I am not getting error messages either other than a blank page whenever there is a fatal error. Is there anyway to enable a 'debug mode' for WordPress?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 9

Views: 7937

Answers (4)

anton
anton

Reputation: 31

Look at WordPress FirePHP Debugger (spam link removed). It uses FirePHP for debugging wordpress via the web browser.

Main features:

  • Automatic detection of FirePHP server library inside php include path or separated directory
  • Early loading of the debugger (before WordPress engine starts)
  • No modifications to WordPress core or configuration files
  • Automatic enabling of WordPress debug mode
  • Handles all php fatal errors (no more blank pages and logs parsing)
  • Logs WordPress deprecated functions and arguments
  • Safe debugging on live site
  • SQL queries log
  • PHP superglobals and constants
  • System information (WordPress and server environment)

Upvotes: 3

markratledge
markratledge

Reputation: 17561

Pear Debug Wordpress plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pear-debug/

Update 4/08/2015: The above plugin hasn't been updated in a few years. You can also use the built-in WordPress PHP debugging functions in wp-config.php , i.e.:

  // Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define('WP_DEBUG', true);

// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

// Disable display of errors and warnings 
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
@ini_set('display_errors',0);

// Use dev versions of core JS and CSS files (only needed if you are modifying these core files)
define('SCRIPT_DEBUG', true);

See https://codex.wordpress.org/Debugging_in_WordPress for the complete docs

Upvotes: 12

xentek
xentek

Reputation: 2645

I know this has long been answered, but if you define('WP_DEBUG',true); in your wp-config.php and are still not seeing errors, then add this code right after the define statement:

if (WP_DEBUG) ini_set('display_errors',1);

Upvotes: 4

VolkerK
VolkerK

Reputation: 96159

There's (more than one/) a way to enable "a 'debug mode'" for php in general. And that's installing a debugger extension like e.g. xdebug.
You need a client that connects to the debugger and retrieves+displays the information.
Netbeans 6.7 has been released and its php module supports xdebug. It has become a nice IDE for PHP development.

Upvotes: 5

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