Examining the state of your PHP code

[jonathanbossenger]

Details

• Content type (Online Workshop, Lesson, Course, Tutorial, or Lesson Plan):Lesson
• Content title: Examining the state of your PHP code
• Topic description: Discover a few different ways to output or log variables in PHP
• Audience (User, Developer, Designer, Contributor, etc.):Developer
• Experience Level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Any):Beginner

Learning Objectives

• Describe why it would be useful to use debugging functions.
• List a few functions that aide debugging, with examples

Related Resources and Other Notes

• PHP error_log() function
• PHP print_r() function
• PHP var_dump() function

Automation Code

//lesson

[github-actions[bot]]

Lesson Development Checklist

• [x] Gather any relevant links to Support, Docs, or related material
• [x] Description and Objectives finalized
• [x] Lesson created and announced to the team for review
• [x] Lesson reviewed
• [ ] Lesson video submitted and published to WPTV
• [ ] Lesson created on Learn.WordPress.org
• [ ] Lesson video published to YouTube
• [ ] Lesson on Learn.WordPress.org updated with YouTube video
• [ ] Lesson published to Learn.WordPress.org

[jonathanbossenger]

Script: https://github.com/jonathanbossenger/wp-content/blob/main/developer-learning-pathway/12-debugging-in-wordpress/02-examining-the-state-of-your-php-code.md

[jonathanbossenger]

Audio track: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IhnJR8a5qv5mwyKp0orXeslIpKlXHVbu/view?usp=sharing

[jonathanbossenger]

@agiljulio, here is the script and audio file.

I don't have a pre-existing video, because this will be a brand new lesson, so you'll have to create the visuals yourself, in the same style as the previous lesson.

Are you comfortable to take on this lesson video next?

[agiljulio]

Hi @jonathanbossenger thank you for sending the script and audio file.

Noted it, I will adjust the style to the same as the previous video.

Yes, I feel comfortable taking on this lesson for the next video, If I have any questions, I will ask here 🙏

[jonathanbossenger]

Thank you @agiljulio I look forward to reviewing the next video.

[agiljulio]

Hi @jonathanbossenger the video has been edited and is ready for review. Please feel free to provide any feedback, thank you 🙏

[jonathanbossenger]

Thank you @agiljulio I will do my best to review it today or tomorrow.

[jonathanbossenger]

Hey @agiljulio sorry for the delay here. Great work on the video.

I'm going to open this for the training team to review, and then get started on the scripts and voice recordings for the next two videos. I'd like to try and get these to you by the end of this week.

[digitalchild]

Nice clear overview of debugging @jonathanbossenger

I have one piece of feedback, i'm not sure if I missed it.

• When you highlight enabling debugging in the wp-config is it worth showing what that looks like in the wp-config because by default, enabling debugging does not enable the debug.log file.

[jonathanbossenger]

Thanks @digitalchild

This configuration was covered in the previous lesson in this module on enabling the debugging options. Do you think it would be beneficial to refer to this in the spot you mention?

[digitalchild]

@jonathanbossenger Yes I think if you mention its in the previous lesson that should be enough. The reason I ask is because you have the wp-config open in the IDE :)

[jonathanbossenger]

Aha, that's a solid point. I didn't actually create the video, Agil and I are collaborating on this one.

I'm planning my own review later, so I'll keep an eye out for this.

[jonathanbossenger]

Yes I think if you mention its in the previous lesson that should be enough.

@digitalchild at 0:28 in this lesson, it directly references the "The built in WordPress debugging options" lesson, which contains the relevant settings to enable debug.log (here is the relevant section in that lesson).

As this is the next lesson in the learning pathway after that one, would you agree this is sufficient reference to that lesson, and the settings therein?

[jonathanbossenger]

Hi @agiljulio

As always, a great video. I do have a few change requests. Mostly they are adding some additional pauses in the voice, to allow viewers to take in what's on the screen.

• at 0:58, after the transition to the IDE, would it be possible to insert a 1 second pause to show the use of error_log, before the voice explanation?
• at 1:47 - 2:00, would it be possible to insert additional pauses in the voice to display the PHP code and the output for a few more seconds each.
• at 2:22 could you add a pause before the var_dump explanation starts
• 2:37 - 2:39 could you add additional pauses for the example code and output
• 2:44 could you stay on the output in the browser here, and use annotations (eg arrows) to show how var_dump displays the value of the variable and the additional information about variable type and length.
• at 2:57, when it's talking about var_dump not having a "return" option, the video can switch back to the code IDE
• at 3:30, would it be possible to show a screenshot of those actual pages on the php docs, it's helpful for folks to see what that page looks like, along with the url.

Thanks in advance.

[agiljulio]

Hi @jonathanbossenger , thank you for your feedback. It was very detailed and will help me maintain the quality of the video. Here is the updated version.

[jonathanbossenger]

Thanks @agiljulio it's looking great.

I did pick up one additional small bug.

At 2:15 when you update the code to wrap print_r using the second parameter in the error_log call, you don't need the <pre> tags anymore, as the code is now logging to the debug.log

So instead of

$some_array = array( 'apple', 'banana', 'cherry' );
echo '<pre>';
error_log( print_r( $some_array, true ) );
echo '</pre>';

It should just be

$some_array = array( 'apple', 'banana', 'cherry' );
error_log( print_r( $some_array, true ) );

Apologies if this wasn't clear in the script, I'll make sure to make these examples clearer going forward.

[agiljulio]

No problem @jonathanbossenger . Here is another update. Thank you for clarifying 🙏

[jonathanbossenger]

No problem, @agiljulio. Thank you for always being open to updates and changes.

I will work on getting this video lesson published this week and share the next two scripts with you.

[agiljulio]

My pleasure @jonathanbossenger 🙏 I look forward to receiving the next script.

[jonathanbossenger]

https://wordpress.tv/2024/06/07/examining-the-state-of-your-php-code/

[jonathanbossenger]

https://youtu.be/ThyDq0misbk

[jonathanbossenger]

https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson/examining-the-state-of-your-php-code/

//publish