DebugPanel - Web 2.0 way of print_r()

Target Audience

Novice and intermediate PHP developers who are debugging the code by inserting

print_r($var); // or
var_dump($var); // or
var_export($var);

Note: those who are using DBG, Xdebug, Zend Debugger or others, please ignore this "lame" script - it will only make you laugh.

Purpose

Most of PHP developers start debugging by inserting something like this in their code and seeing results on the screen.

$var = call_some_obscure_function();
print '<pre>'.print_r($var, true).'</pre>';

DebugPanel also outputs the variable contents on the screen, but not directly at the place where it's called, but in a window floating over your script output with many convenience features.

Feature list

• Collect all variable dumps in one place.
• Highlight the syntax a little (different variable types get different background).
• Save screen space by toggling visibility of different variables.
• Handle multidimentional arrays with ease.
• DebugPanel is displayed with position: absolute which is not interfering with the output of your script.
• Drag and drop DebugPanel so it will not cover important information on your screen.
• Never get warnings that you are trying to send HTTP headers or set cookies AFTER outputting debug information.
• Handle objects as easy as multidimentional arrays.
• Use the included PHP profiler to find the slowest code block in your script.
• Use the included server statistics module to know what's going on with your server.
• Remembers it's position after dragging, giving you pleasant debugging time!

Demo

If you haven't noticed - here it is, on the right of this page. Drag it and inspect it. Click on array titles to toggle visibility.

Usage

Step 1

Include the PHP class into your initialization (bootstraping) script.

require_once('class.DebugPanel.php');

It will automatically attach itself to the end of your script by using

register_shutdown_function()

and so render the DebugPanel in the browser.

Step 2

Call

dp('return value from strange function', $var);

every time you want to debug something.

Download

DebugPanel.zip
Somebody wants to host the file for me?

Todo

I don't have any plans yet. Please try DebugPanel and report bugs and suggestions.

Hint about Taylor Profiler

That's the way I use Taylor Profiler in my code (which takes care of the current class name and current function name in one go):

function some_slow_function() {
 if (isset($GLOBALS['profiler'])) $GLOBALS['profiler']->startTimer(__METHOD__);
 sleep(1);
 if (isset($GLOBALS['profiler'])) $GLOBALS['profiler']->stopTimer(__METHOD__);
}

DebugPanel

Request (array[7])

key	typeName	value
v1st	string(16)	8485AB8ACB4BBF90
MANTIS_VIEW_ALL_COOKIE	string(2)	50
_csoot	string(13)	1268814504774
_csuid	string(16)	48b417b23862dc80
MANTIS_STRING_COOKIE	string(64)	8bac76e935a27df7c99e72a7536cbfaae589e74d8380b7c59f407a5626c4508d
MANTIS_PROJECT_COOKIE	string(1)	6
livecid	string(32)	WI0om32G7446uxjqY4Kzg3Rs5LhQ8Fr2

System Variables (array[7])

key	typeName	value
REQUEST	array[7]	REQUEST (array[7]) key typeName value v1st string(16) 8485AB8ACB4BBF90 MANTIS_VIEW_ALL_COOKIE string(2) 50 _csoot string(13) 1268814504774 _csuid string(16) 48b417b23862dc80 MANTIS_STRING_COOKIE string(64) 8bac76e935a27df7c99e72a7536cbfaae589e74d8380b7c59f407a5626c4508d MANTIS_PROJECT_COOKIE string(1) 6 livecid string(32) WI0om32G7446uxjqY4Kzg3Rs5LhQ8Fr2
GET	array[0]
POST	array[0]
FILES	array[0]
COOKIE	array[7]	COOKIE (array[7]) key typeName value v1st string(16) 8485AB8ACB4BBF90 MANTIS_VIEW_ALL_COOKIE string(2) 50 _csoot string(13) 1268814504774 _csuid string(16) 48b417b23862dc80 MANTIS_STRING_COOKIE string(64) 8bac76e935a27df7c99e72a7536cbfaae589e74d8380b7c59f407a5626c4508d MANTIS_PROJECT_COOKIE string(1) 6 livecid string(32) WI0om32G7446uxjqY4Kzg3Rs5LhQ8Fr2
SESSION	NULL
GLOBALS	NULL

Test (array[8])

key	typeName	value
string	string(12)	Hello World!
int	integer(2)	10
double	double(6)	3.1428
null	NULL
bool	boolean(1)	1
array	array[5]	array (array[5]) key typeName value 0 integer(1) 0 1 integer(1) 1 2 integer(1) 2 3 integer(1) 3 4 string(5) asd
panel	array[1]	panel (array[1]) key typeName value info array[1] info (array[1]) key typeName value position string(5) fixed
someHTML	htmlString	someHTML (htmlString) HiI am an HTML string.

TaylorProfiler (htmlString)

nr	count	time, ms	percent	routine
1	1x	1000.20	99.78%	some_slow_function
2	0x	0.00	0.22%	Missed
3	1x	0.03	0.00%	unprofiled
		1002.40	100.22%	OVERALL TIME

Server Stat (htmlString)

PHP Info

Server	localhost
PHP	5.2.8
Server time	16:27:50
memory_limit	262144.000 Kb
Mem. used	931.320 Kb
Mem. used %	0.355%
Mem. peak	931.781 Kb
Sess. size

Server Info

Disk space	20480.617 Mb
Disk used	13353.773 Mb
Disk used %	65.202%
CPU used %	5.736%
RAM	3955.957 Mb
RAM used	3215.152 Mb
RAM used %	81.274%
Uptime	82D 01:40:55
Server load	0.21