X

X is a collection of php functions to quickly debug php while working with web or cli (command line interface)
X is a replacement for the common php print_r/var_dump debug approach
X provides a convenient way to debug in live environment

Usage

<?php
new MathiasGrimm\X\X();

// common php
echo "<pre>";
print_r($GLOBALS);
print_r($_POST);
print_r($_GET);
echo "</pre>";

// X
x($GLOBAS, $_POST, $_GET);

// ------------------------------------

// common php
echo "<pre>";
foreach ($_FILES as $file) {
    print_r($file);
}
echo "</pre>";

// X
foreach ($_FILES as $file) {
    x($file);
}

// ------------------------------------

// common php
echo "<pre>";
print_r($_REQUEST);
print_r($_POST);
die;

// X
xd($_REQUEST, $_POST);

Output

$aLang = array(
   'PHP',
   'Java',
   'JavaScript'
);

x(1, 2, 3, $aLang);

will print:

DEBUG X
File: /Users/mathiasgrimm/Google Drive/projects/github/x/test/XTest.php
Line: 15

ARG [0]
1

ARG [1]
2

ARG [2]
3

ARG [3]
Array
(
    [0] => PHP
    [1] => Java
    [2] => JavaScript
)

Live Environment Debug

In general, live environments are hard to debug, however X makes it less terrible.

Lets say you want to debug the Login page of your website while not displaying anything different for a million public users that are currently using your site.

In general you need a way to say that you are in a debug environment somehow. Either by having an alternative entry point, a url switch or any other way.

In this case I will assume you have 2 entry points. index.php and index2.php index2.php will allow debug verbosity

<?php
// index.php
define('IS_DEBUG', false);

// initialize X
new MathiasGrimm\X\X(IS_DEBUG);

// ...

?>

<?php
// index2.php
define('IS_DEBUG', true);

// initialize X
new MathiasGrimm\X\X(IS_DEBUG);

// ...

?>


<?php
// LoginController.php
class LoginController
{
// ...

    public function loginAction($username, $password)
    {
        // common php
        if (IS_DEBUG) {
            print_r($_SESSION);
            die();
        }
        
        // X
        xd($_SESSION);
    }
}
?>

The X functions will be always available along the code but they will echo information just when debug is enabled.

Installation with composer

add the following to your project composer.json

	"require": {
        "mathiasgrimm/x": "dev-master"
    }

Packagist

Thanks

Mathias Grimm