How to Debug WordPress theme with PHPStorm

Question

I've installed PHPStorm (8) and trying to debug WordPress theme using xDebug. I tried chrome browser extension and some other settings in the PHP Storm settings.

I've searched a lot but still unable to attach the page to the debugger. What I want is to run the code line by line and check variables etc.

Can someone tell me what exactly is required so the debugging works?

I've following structure:

WAMP is at:  c:\wamp

Project is:  d:\projects\test

alias is: http://localhost/test/

When I opened the project in PHP Storm. It identified it as WordPress project. But it never attaches the browser to debugger.

Edit Here is the related xDebug code in php.ini

zend_extension = "c:/wamp/bin/php/php5.3.13/zend_ext/php_xdebug-2.2.0-5.3-vc9.dll"

[xdebug]
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
xdebug.profiler_enable = 1
xdebug.profiler_enable_trigger = 1
xdebug.profiler_output_name = cachegrind.out.%t.%p
xdebug.profiler_output_dir = "c:/wamp/tmp"
xdebug.remote_port = 9000

I also tried true instead of 1 . Also tried without providing any port.

Answer 1

There seem to be a lot of ways to set up debugging. There are browser plugins, and bookmark commands, and all sorts of elaborate setups.

For the most part, I always want debugging enabled while I'm developing. If that's true for you, you might consider adding this to your php.ini file:

xdebug.remote_autostart = 1

In addition, a key part to my setup is that I have to click the button in the toolbar for " Start Listening for PHP Debug Connections ", and keep this enabled while I work. This is also in the menus under "Run".

Answer 2

Have you tried zero-configuration guide for PhpStorm debugger? https://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/PhpStorm/Zero-configuration+Web+Application+Debugging+with+Xdebug+and+PhpStorm

I'm using this solution and it works fine.

Don't forget to add breakpoints and I recommend to create the bookmarklets to activate/deactivate debugger cookies in browser ( https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/marklets/ ).