Is there an IDE for PHP where you can set breakpoints and step into the code?

Question

Is there an IDE for PHP where you can set breakpoints and step into and render a webpage "stepwise"?

And whats the "best" IDE for working with php-code?

Answer 1

There are several. The kicker is you either have to run everything locally, or install a connector on the server you are developing on. Zend Studio and Komodo are two good ones. Also take a look at the Zend Debugger.

Answer 2

PHPDesigner integrates breakpoints with XDebug. I've never tried the feature, but I know it has it.

Answer 3

Yes there is ; there are at least two of those :

• Eclipse PDT
• netbeans

Those can use the Xdebug extension to provide step by step debugging, breakpoints, ...

And they are probably the two "best" free IDE out there for PHP code -- at least, if you have a powerful computer.

Answer 4

It's a text editor, not an IDE, but Notepad++ with the DBGP plugin works fine as a front-end to the Xdebug extension for step-by-step debugging of PHP code.

I'm not so sure about the "stepwise rendering" on client-side - it might just work if you flush the output to the browser every couple of lines, but I guess it depends a lot on the browser. You might have more luck with the Paint Events extension to Firebug.