New Xdebug browser extensions

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 12:33 GMT

London, UK

Years ago I wrote about a Firefox extension that allows you to start an Xdebug debugging session by clicking on an icon in Firefox' status bar. For some unexplained reason, this extension is no longer available through Firefox' addon-site. Although I have a copy at http://xdebug.org/files/xdebug_helper-0.3.1-fx.xpi for archival purposes, there are now a few other browser extensions that do the same thing.

easy Xdebug

easy Xdebug is an extension that serves as a replacement for the now unavailable Xdebug helper extension. It's written by Brecht Vanhaesebrouck of eLime. The extension was originally tested with Netbeans but it also seems to work fine with Komodo.

Xdebug enabler

Xdebug enabler is an extension for Google's Chrome browser. It "allows you to enable and disable triggering Xdebug from with in Chrome. Useful if you are a web developer using an IDE that supports Xdebug like Eclipse with PDT." It's written by 'remailednet' and available through the Google Chrome Extensions website.

JavaScript 'enabler'

I also ran across a blog post by 'Caleb G' from HigherVisibility. Instead of making an extension for a specific browser, he outlines two JavaScript bookmarklets that allow you to start and stop an Xdebug debugging session.

Update: The "Xdebug enabler" Chrome Extension seems to have some issues. There is now also an alternative Chrome Extension called Xdebug helper that integrates quite a bit better. You can find it at its Google Chrome Extension page.

Shortlink

This article has a short URL available: https://drck.me/n-xdebug-be-7rt

Comments

Iván -DrSlump- Montes

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 15:02 UTC

I also put together a bookmarklet some years ago which works by setting the cookie instead of rewriting the URL.

http://pollinimini.net/blog/xdebug-bookmarklet

/imv

Hannes Dorn

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 19:42 UTC

easy Xdebug is no alternative to xdebug-helper. I used the MR Tech Toolkit extension to make xdebug-helper compatible with Firefox 3.6. Works.

Derick

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 19:46 UTC

@Hannes: And why is it no alternative?

ken

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 20:11 UTC

Cool!

Hannes Dorn

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 20:21 UTC

xdebug-helper just enables the debugger, but does not send a request. easy xdebug resends the current request when debugging is activated.

Derick

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 20:30 UTC

@Hannes: I just tested it and for me it is not sending a new request. There was a new version released (1.4) yesterday though.

Hannes Dorn

Wednesday, February 17th 2010, 20:58 UTC

Yes, you are right, easy xdebug version 1.4 is similar to xdebug helper:

Changelog 1.4:

Added support for seamonkey (not tested)
Made the debug button a toggle button
Added a toggle button for profiling
Clicking the buttons no longer resubmits the current page

No need for xdebug helper.

Add Comment

Name:
Email:	Will not be posted. Please leave empty instead of filling in garbage though!
Comment:	Please follow the reStructured Text format. Do not use the comment form to report issues in software, use the relevant issue tracker. I will not answer them here.
	All comments are moderated