Summary

In this appendix, we've learned how to use NetBeans IDE to run the website and debug it in interactive step-by-step mode. To be able to run a website, you first need to edit the site's properties (run configuration).

To debug the site, you need to have the XDebug PHP extension installed. When you debug your website in NetBeans, the PHP engine pauses program execution at every line where you set a breakpoint. You see the debugging information (like local variables and call stack) in NetBeans window in graphical form.

Along with debugging, XDebug extension also provides the ability to profile websites. With profiling, you see how much time was spent for execution of a certain function or class method. This allows you to determine the "bottle necks" and performance issues.