Best Ways to Analyze Errors and Debug Your PHP Code

Even the very best PHP coders encounter bugs and errors in the coding process and an effective process can ensure your team is prepared to identify and fix them in an effective manner. As a growing number of coding teams have moved to an agile development process, identifying and fixing these bugs early is a particularly important part of the overall process.

Agile processes require that individuals create a framework of accountable development which adapts the process based upon the highest beneficial impact for the end user. In practice, this means your release cycle should be centered on identifying ways to improve user experience, limit future bugs and ensure the new features you add will benefit the underlying application significantly.

In order to shift to an agile approach, it’s necessary to be able to limit bugs and problems in future releases at an early stage. This guide aims to help developers create a series of quality control benchmarks that are integrated into the coding process to ensure better results.  Limiting errors and improving work flow can help ensure your overall PHP development process is improved, saving you time from having to undo problems in future releases.

Working with Error Messages in PHP

At the core of your efforts to understand bugs and problems with your PHP app should be an analysis of the error log files provided by your Apache server.  Error messages are never fun, but they do provide an important litmus test for your application – can you use the integrated PHP error reporting to ensure your project is properly aligned with the right output. What’s beneficial in PHP error reports is that code errors, breaks and problems can be identified at the line level, helping you hone in on the potential problem. Often times, coders find that finding an error can be quite time consuming and this helps streamline that process significantly.

Within your configuration file you should set display_errors to “On” as well as error_reporting to E_ALL. If you have to make updates to the file, you’ll need to restart Apache to get these working properly. You should always test a basic script (with a known error) to ensure it’s running properly.  This can ensure you can see the errors within your PHP script to help you improve functionality.

Bug Tracking and User Feedback for your PHP Application

There are several tools on the market which allow for integrated beta testing, user feedback and bug submissions that can further help ensure quality control. In fact, coders themselves are not the single best source of identifying errors – end users are.  Building a dual structure of team and user feedback can ensure you get the cleanest, most effective possible PHP code.

A great way to start working with error files in real time is through PHP Eclipse, which you can configure to run in your web browser. The plugin will identify error lines in your script automatically, helping you to save time by finding the most efficient structure for your application. As part of a complete software development kit, PHP Eclipse can help you start moving in the right direction.

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