Question

I am trying to learn symfony framework by creating a small project.

Since I started developing the project I have been wondering if there is a convenience function to see the contents or information of a variable or array anywherea in the application by print_r or echo or var_dump (I can use the aforesaid function straight away anywhere in the application but the output is not properly readable in case of large arrays, moreover there are warnings showin like header already sent etc. etc.).

I have also used cakePHP and it has a convenience function named pr() which prints out the contents of variable or array nicely indented (properly readable).

If I had to create such function than how can I make sure that it can be called anywhere in the application?

Any tips (links/blogs/tutorials) related to “how to debug your symfony applications” are greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

To put it simple: you can’t output debug “things” in your controller. The controller has nothing to do with the View (output), so when executing it does not know if there’s going to be any output.

But, you can output debug “things” in your controller ;-)…

• Just print_r() or var_dump(). And immediately die afterwards. That way you can see your debugging.

• Call the logger. $this->getLogger()->debug($message);

• Add a custom slot which you assign in your controller ($this->getResponse()->setSlot('debug', $debugData)). And include this slot somewhere in your layout file (preferably only in the dev environment.)