Debugging During Development: Creating, Breaking and Fixing a Module

Debugging is more than fixing broken code. It is about logically thinking through steps and using the appropriate tools to solve problems.  

With Drupal 8’s adoption of Symfony and object-oriented architecture, we need to adjust how we debug our code. Up until now, many of us have been using the convenient dpm function for debugging and introspection.  However, dpm cannot print protected properties or provide information about methods of an object. This makes it difficult to debug objects and classes.  It’s time to learn a new approach! We will look at alternative methods to solve this problem such as:

• Xdebug with PHPStorm configuration -  http://xdebug.org/

• Devel and the WebProfiler (D8+) Drupal module https://www.drupal.org/project/devel

• Using the continuous integration tool Probo CI to speed up the testing and approval process -http://probo.ci/

We will create a module, break it and use the above tools to debug, test and fix the code. Whether you are dipping your toes into object-oriented PHP or you're an advanced developer, everyone can benefit from debugging their code more efficiently