Debugging CakePHP in Netbeans with MAMP

Setting up remote php debugging in Netbeans with MAMP and CakePHP is actually quite easy.

Versions used:

• Netbeans 7.0.1
• MAMP Pro 2.0.5
• CakePHP 2.0
• Mac OSX Lion

This should work just as well with previous versions of Netbeans and Cake, MAMP configurations may be slightly different.

You’ll need to alter MAMP’s PHP configuration files:

In MAMP go to File->Edit Template->PHP->PHP 5.X.XX (whichever version you’d like to edit)

Scroll to the bottom of the ini file you should see a line like this:

[xdebug]

;zend_extension=”/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/xdebug.so”

Simply uncomment this line by removing the semicolon:zend_extension=”/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/xdebug.so”
Next you’ll need to add some Netbeans specific parameters:

xdebug.remote_enable = On

xdebug.remote_handler = dbgp

xdebug.remote_host = localhost (or your hostname)

xdebug.remote_port = 9000

xdebug.idekey=”netbeans-xdebug”

Again you’ll need to do this for each version of PHP that you want to debug with.

Save the php files and restart your MAMP servers. Hit http://localhost:8888/MAMP/phpinfo.php in your browser, you should now have an xdebug section toward the end of your info file.

Now for the Netbeans configuration.

Create a cakephp project as you normally would in Netbeans. Once you have the project configured and running (database is set up, tmp directory is writable etc) right click on the project name in the Projects navigator.

Select Properties, then choose Sources. For Web Root choose your cake application’s webroot directory ex: app/webroot.

Then go to Run Configuration. For project url enter the url of your MAMP site, ex: http://localhost:9001. Push the advanced button

That’s it, you should now be able to launch the debugger.

In Netbeans go to Debug->Debug Project(Project Name), a new browser window will pop up. At first it will be blank as the debugger will stop PHP on the first line of index.php. You can then step through your code, or continue to your next break point.

Your mileage may vary, but please let me know if you have any trouble following these instructions or if you know of a better way to do any of this.

MAMP 2.0 upgrade MySQL won't start

Upon upgrading to MAMP 2.0 I discovered that MySQL was no longer loading. After much digging around I found a post that describes a harsh fix. Essentially it amounts to shutting down or killing the mysqld process and restarting servers from the MAMP console. The “fix” seems to have worked for me. The instructions below might be a bit clearer for more novice users:

Try the first approach before attempting the second less harsh fix.

Quit the MAMP console. Open the terminal window and type the following commands: 

$ cd /Applications/MAMP/bin
$ sudo chmod +x *.sh
$ ./stopMysql.sh 

Then restart MAMP and all should be normal again. If that doesn’t work try this second approach:

This approach involves catting the contents of the mysql.pid file. The PID stands for process ID and represents a number which can be used to identify a process.

$: cat /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.pid

Use the number that’s returned in a kill command. In my case 35938 was returned.

$: kill -9 35938

MAMP + Intl + Lion

Since I have started using Symfony2 on some projects I have been meaning to install the intl extension that Symfony recommends you install. I have tried several different methods, but believe that the one I listed below is easier and makes less of a mess than others.

First, get the ICU libraries. Then expand them and build the library:

tar xzvf icu4c-4_8_1_1-src.tgz
cd icu/source
./runConfigureICU MacOSX
make
sudo make install

If you have followed from my previous steps, you should have the php headers installed in the standard MAMP directory. We need to go to the intl ext folder:

cd /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/include/php/ext/intl

From here, let’s build the intl.so file that we need to enable the extension:

phpize
./configure --enable-intl
make

Now we just need to copy the extension to the correct location and add an entry to our php.ini file:

cp modules/intl.so /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/
echo "extension=intl.so" >> /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/conf/php.ini

Restart the MAMP servers and now you have the intl extension enabled!