debugConsole with WordPress

For debugging inside of WordPress there are different approaches and preferences. I like xDebug and in some cases I use FirePHP. Now there is another possibility which I had to test at least once – debugConsole – I like it.

The debugConsole is a tool for debugging and tracing PHP5 applications on productive servers without compromising the live-traffic.

The features

• access features
• variable inspector
• variable watches
• replace PHP’s errorhandling
• timer clock
• checkpoint management
• and other features
  • filter events
  • log console output into logfiles additionally to or instead of the popup
  • configure dimensions and design of console window
  • color-coded events for quicker overview

So I created a little Plugin to play and test the console.
Currently I have only created a demo Plugin which shows the function. It won’t be maintained, but can be downloaded here. As a small start and quick look at the possibilities I used the examples of the author of the debugConsole.

The Plugin has the following source code and you can add to any URL of the WP-installation the string ?debug=true, so that the popup called with the information of the console. Currently this is possible for frontend and backend.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: debugConsole
Plugin URI: http://bueltge.de/
Text Domain: debugconsole
Domain Path: /languages
Description: The <a href="http://www.debugconsole.de/">debugConsole</a> 
is a tool for debugging and tracing PHP5 applications on productive servers 
without compromising the live-traffic. Add <code>?debug=true</code> to the URL for see 
the Popup-Window with debugConsole
Author: Frank B&uuml;ltge
Version: 0.1
Author URI: http://bueltge.de/
Donate URI: http://bueltge.de/wunschliste/
License: Apache License
Last change: 14.10.2010 11:30:51
*/ 

/**
License:
==============================================================================
Copyright 2010 Frank Bueltge  (email : frank@bueltge.de)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

Requirements:
==============================================================================
This plugin requires WordPress >= 2.7 and tested with PHP Interpreter >= 5.2.9
*/
 
/* PHP5 required */
if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.0.0') < 0) {
	die('The debugConsole requires PHP 5.x.x or greater.');
}

/* load debugConsole functionality */
require_once 'debugconsole-1.3.0/debugConsole.php';

// add ?debug=true to the URL
if ( isset($_GET['debug']) && $_GET['debug'] == 'true') {
	add_action( 'wp_footer', 'wp_debug_console' );
	add_action( 'admin_footer', 'wp_debug_console' );
}

function wp_debug_console() {
	
	/**
	* debugConsole demonstration
	*
	* This script demonstrates each feature of the debugConsole. The
	* debugConsole is a PHP5 class using JavaScripts to show debug
	* information in a popup window. The popup has IP-based access
	* control. Configurate everything in debugConsole.config.php.
	* Additionally, PHP's default errorhandler is replaced.
	*
	* @author Andreas Demmer <mail@andreas-demmer.de>
	* @version 1.0.1
	* @package debugConsole_1.2.0
	*/
	
	/*
	Now you got an extended commandset:
	
	dc_watch()           watch variable changes in console
	dc_dump()            var_dump variables in console
	dc_here()            mark checkpoints in console
	dc_start_timer()     measure a timespan
	dc_stop_timer()      output timespan in console
	*/
	
	/* test watches */
	dc_watch('foo');
	
	declare (ticks = 1) {
		$foo = '1';
		$foo++;
		
		/* test checkpoints */
		dc_here('The interpreter passed through here!');
		
		/* test timer clock */
		$myTimer = dc_start_timer('Measure an one second sleep:');
		sleep(1);
		dc_stop_timer($myTimer);
		
		/* test variable debugging */
		$bar = 42.0;
		dc_dump($bar, '$bar tells us the meaning of life:');
		
		$foobar = array (
				'foo' => $foo,
				'bar' => $bar
		);
		
		dc_dump($foobar, '$foobar is a neat array!');
	
		/* test errorhandling */
		echo $notSet;
		fopen('not existing!', 'r');
	}
	
}
?>

Download as zip-file: debugConsole.zip – 131 kByte