Configure XAMPP with Xdebug and get it working in phpDesigner 7

• XAMPP
• Xdebug

You can install XAMPP anywhere on your system, but for this tutorial, we will use c:\xampp as the installing directory, as its easier to type.

Install XAMPP to c:\xampp. If you want to run a web server, install the services. Its recommended if you want to test your site locally.

Download WinCacheGrind and install into its default location: c:\Program Files\WinCacheGrind\

Open C:\xampp\php\php.ini in a text editor. Find php_xdebug.dll:

extension=php_xdebug.dll

in the file php.ini and make sure it is commented out (has a ; at the beginning of the line). If it isn't, it will cause problems later.

In the same file, find the line [Zend]:

[Zend]

and comment out all lines in that section with a single ; in front of each line. Xdebug cannot load if zend is operational.

In the next section [Xdebug]:

[Xdebug]

replace the entire section with the following:

;; Only Zend OR (!) XDebug
zend_extension="\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.0.0-5.2.2.dll"
xdebug.remote_enable=true
xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1
xdebug.remote_port=9000
xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp
xdebug.profiler_enable=1
xdebug.profiler_output_dir="\xampp\tmp"

The dll name changes occasionally, so if things aren't working, go to C:\xampp\php\ext\ and look for it, and copy its file name into the code above, replacing php_xdebug-2.0.0-5.2.2.dll then see if things work better.

Tip:

1 - From PHP 5.3 onwards, you always need to use zend_extension and not zend_extension_ts.

Finally, save the file php.ini and close it.

Go to the “Debugger” page from the menu Tools > Preferences, and change your settings to:

PHP Interpreter: c:\xampp\php\php-cgi.exe
PHP Configuration File: c:\xampp\php\php.ini 

Go to the “Profiler” page from the menu Tools > Preferences, and change your settings to:

WinCacheGrind - Viewer: c:\Program Files\WinCacheGrind\WinCacheGrind.exe
Output directory: c:\xampp\tmp

Go to the “Run” page from the menu Tools > Preferences, and change your settings to:

PHP: c:\xampp\php\php-cgi.exe
Configuration: c:\xampp\php\php.ini

Go to the “Localhost” page from the menu Tools > Preferences, and change your settings to:

Server path: http://localhost
Local server path: c:\xampp\htdocs

If the configuration is done correctly, you're debug features should now be possible.