WP PHP Console

Description

PHP Console allows you to handle PHP errors & exceptions, dump variables, execute PHP code remotely and many other things using Google Chrome extension PHP Console and PHP Console server library.

This implementation of PHP Console is a handy tool to make it easier to test on the fly any WordPress specific function or class (including those introduced by your active theme and plugins!) from a terminal and inspect results, catch errors and warnings with complete call stack trace straight from the Chrome JavaScript console. In other words, besides debugging, you can execute PHP or WordPress-specific PHP code straight from the terminal and print PHP variables in Chrome Dev Tools JavaScript console along with your normal JavaScript debugging and testing. Keep everything in one place, without leaving the browser to check for your logs or writing temporary PHP test code on a PHP file and refresh your browser page.

Note: PHP version 5.6.0 or above is required to use this plugin.

For support and pull requests, please refer to WP PHP Console GitHub repo and read the instructions there – thank you.

Usage

After you entered WP PHP Plugin password, your browser address bar should show a yellow “key” icon, which, if clicked, will prompt for the password you have set earlier.
The “key” icon will change into a “terminal” icon, click on it to open the PHP Console eval & options form.

After entering the correct password, you can use the Eval Terminal in the PHP Console eval & options form and run any PHP code from it, including WordPress’s own functions: enter one or more lines of PHP code in the black Eval terminal screen, press Ctrl+Enter and see the result in Chrome Dev Tools JavaScript console.
The result includes the output, the return value and the net server execution time.

In your PHP code on the Server, you can call PHP Console debug statements like PC::debug( $var, $tag ) to display PHP variables in the JavaScript console and optionally filter selected tags through the PHP Console eval & options form opened from the address bar in your browser.

In the JavaScript console you will see printed any `PC::debug()“ information, PHP errors, warnings, notices with optional stack trace, which will be useful to debug your plugin or theme.

Installation

1. First, install Google Chrome extension PHP Console from the Chrome WebStore.
   Make sure the PHP Console Chrome extension is enabled through chrome://extensions/.
   Important Note
   If the Google Chrome extension is not available on the Chrome Web Store, you can manually install it from source.

2. Then, add this plugin to your WordPress installation either by:

• Installing it as any other WordPress plugin from your WordPress admin Plugins page (Add New)

• Uploading it in wp-php-console directory into your wp-content/plugins/ directory or corresponding plugins directory in your installation

1. Activate the plugin through the Plugins admin page in WordPress

2. In the Settings menu go to WP PHP Console:

• Enter a password for the Eval Terminal (this setting is needed or the terminal feature simply won’t work).

• You can also set other options.

Options

Allow only on SSL
Forces PHP Console to connect on a SSL connection only (of course then if you don’t actually have SSL (https), PHP Console simply won’t work).

Allowed IP Masks
You can secure your server by specifying IP addresses to restrict the accessibility from the Eval Terminal (a single address eg. 192.168.0.4 or an address mask eg. 192.168.*.* or multiple IPs, comma separated 192.168.1.22,192.168.1.24,192.168.3.*). In case of having issues connecting with the Remote PHP Eval Terminal, try leaving this blank.

Register PC Class
Tick this option to register PC in the global PHP namespace. This allows to write PC::debug($var, $tag) or PC::magic_tag($var) instructions in PHP to inspect $var in the JavaScript console.

Show Call Stack
Tick this option to see the call stack when PHP Console server writes to the JavaScript console.

Short Path Names
Tick this checkbox to shorten PHP Console error sources and traces paths in the JavaScript console. E.g. paths like /server/path/to/document/root/WP/wp-admin/admin.php:38 will be displayed as /WP/wp-admin/admin.php:38

FAQ

Is this an official plugin from PHP Console author?

No, but it makes use of Sergey’s PHP Console library as it is.

Does it work with Firefox, IE, Opera or other browsers?

No it doesn’t, unless PHP Console browser extension is ported, for example, as a Firefox add-on.

Can I use PHP Console in a live production environment?

You can but it is probably not a good idea. You should do your debugging and testing on a development/testing environment on a staging server or local machine. Likewise, you normally wouldn’t want to turn on PHP error reporting or set WP_DEBUG to true in a live site as you wouldn’t want to display error information to public. Furthermore, PHP Console allows execution of any remote PHP code through terminal – for this you can set a strong password and restrict the IP address range to access the terminal, but still it’s not advisable. Besides putting your site at risk, you will also add more load to your server.

Will there be items logged in my debug.log files when a PHP error occurs?

Generally no, WP PHP Console will intercept those. However, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the logs too. Furthermore, WP PHP Console is unable to catch many server errors that result in a 500 error code on the browser. For those you may have traces left in the debug.log file.

Why are PHP arrays shown as objects?

The JavaScript console prints PHP variables as JavaScript variables. Associative PHP arrays such as ['key1' => 'var2', 'key2' => 'var2', ... ] are shown as objects; automatically indexed arrays like [ 'var1', 'var2', ... ] are shown as arrays.

Fatal error: Class ‘PC’ not found in ‘my code’

PC::debug( $my_var, $my_tag ) can only be called after the WordPress core included the WP PHP Console plugin.

You could move your debug code or either do something like

  // delay use of PC class until WP PHP Console plugin is included
  add_action( 'plugins_loaded', function () use ( $my_var ) {
    // send $my_var with tag 'my_tag' to the JavaScript console through PHP Console Server Library and PHP Console Chrome Plugin
    PC::my_tag( $my_var );
  });

or

  // PHP Console autoload
  require_once dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/wp-php-console/vendor/autoload.php';

  // make PC class available in global PHP scope
  if ( ! class_exists( 'PC', false ) ) PhpConsole\Helper::register();

  // send $my_var with tag 'my_tag' to the JavaScript console through PHP Console Server Library and PHP Console Chrome Plugin
  PC::my_tag( $my_var );

Reviews

Wonderful idea, but too unreliable

ChemaZ July 4, 2019 1 reply

Sometimes it works nicely, sometimes it takes 10 secs. to produce output, sometimes there’s no output at all. It disables logging so no idea what’s going on. 2+2 always works tho. The Chrome extension is also spotty, sometimes opening the menu instead of the console (“inspect window” makes it work; sometimes). It also lacks a keyboard shortcut. As an alternative for quick fixes, good ol’ Debug Bar + Debug Bar Console work reliably as a poor man’s REPL, as does Debug Toolkit to show a trace on the page. XDebug + PHPStorm for real work.

It’s great!

erdemarslan June 4, 2019 1 reply

Thank you so much.

Great work

taisho May 5, 2019 1 reply

As soon as I realized that Chrome extension is off in incognito mode by default and enabled it, I could enter password and got it to work immediately.

Wow super effective

Eric Valois September 19, 2018 1 reply

Very easy to set up and it has saved my life.

Thank you very much!

rpf5573 February 23, 2018 1 reply

This plugin is very useful to debug php variable! And show me stack ! Really Thank you !

Amazing Tool!

Amritansh Trivedi January 27, 2018 1 reply

Hardly you find a tool in www.ads-software.com plugin repo that is technologically a masterpiece. I am thrilled with the power it provides to the devs who really face issues in debugging just like me. By using this tool I no longer need to go here and there to see the debug info. It makes my life super easy. P.S. I am also looking forward to contributing to this plugin in any possible way.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.6.0

• Misc: Add note about Chrome extension unavailability in web store
• Misc: Add plugin admin action links
• Misc: Improved settings handler
• Misc: Updates PHP Console core library to v3.1.8

1.5.5

• Misc: Add plugin admin action links
• Misc: Improved settings handler

1.5.4

• Fix: Temporarily suppress PHP warnings while connecting with PhpConsole to avoid headers already sent warnings, then restore all errors reporting
• Misc: Improved PHP and WordPress compatibility loader

1.5.3

• Fix: Try to get rid of PHP errors related to “Unable to set PHP Console server cookie” and “Cannot modify header information – headers already sent”
• Misc: Require PHP 5.6

1.5.2

• Misc: Updates PHP Console core library to v3.1.7

1.5.1

• Misc: Bump WordPress compatibility to mark support for the latest versions

1.5.0

• Fix: Fixes “PHP Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter – headers already sent” notice in logs
• Misc: Internal changes, new Settings class, deprecated methods and properties in main Plugin class
• Misc: Updated PHP Console Library to 3.1.6
• Misc: Tested up to WordPress 4.5.2

1.4.0

• Enhancement: Support for WordPress language packs
• Misc: Improved error and exception handling and usage of Composer in plugin development
• Misc: Updated PHP Console Library to 3.1.5
• Misc: Tested up to WordPress 4.4.1

1.3.9

• Misc: Use WP Requirements as Composer dependency.

1.3.8

• Misc: Internal changes (alternate PHP version check, automated SVN deploys)

1.3.7

• Fix: Fixes a bug Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent
• Misc: Updated PHP Console Library to 3.1.4

1.3.5

• Misc: Made PHP 5.4.0 the minimum required version to activate the plugin
• Misc: Updated PHP Console library to 3.1.3

1.3.3

• Misc: Supports WordPress 4.2

1.3.2

• Fix: Fixes “Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context” upon activation in some installations.

1.3.1

• Enhancement: earlier PC initialisation – props @Polfo
• Misc: Updated readme files

1.3.0

• Fix: IP mask
• Enhancement: added configuration options – props @Polfo
  • Register PC class
  • Show Call Stack
  • Short Path Names

1.2.3

• Fix: Fixes “Wrong PHP Console eval request signature” error when executing WordPress code from terminal, props @Polfo @barbushin

1.2.2

• Fix: Bugfixes
• Misc: Submission to www.ads-software.com plugins repository.

1.2.1

• Fix: Fixed allowed IPs bug.

1.2.0

• Misc: Updated dependencies and got rid of git submodules.

1.1.0

• Fix: PHP Console server is now instantiated later, allowing to catch all your theme functions too.
• Misc: Included PHP Console server library as git submodule rather than a composer dependency.

1.0.0

• First public release.