Working with the X-debug extension`s var_dump() function - Review: the xdebug_call_function() method (
Page 2 of 4 )
Before I start teaching you how to use the "var_dump()" function included with the X-debug extension, I will reintroduce the hands-on example created in the preceding article of this series. It demonstrated how to track function calls via the "xdebug_call_function()" method.
Put in a simple way, the example in question made use of a sample "User" class, whose signature looked like this:
(example on using the 'xdebug_call_function()' function)
class User{
private $firstName;
private $lastName;
private $email;
public function __construct($firstName,$lastName,$email){
if(!$firstName){
throw new Exception('Invalid parameter First Name.');
}
if(!$lastName){
throw new Exception('Invalid parameter Last Name.');
}
if(!$email){
throw new Exception('Invalid parameter Email.');
}
$this->firstName=$firstName;
$this->lastName=$lastName;
$this->email=$email;
}
// get first name
public function getFirstName(){
return $this->firstName;
}
// get last name
public function getLastName(){
return $this->lastName;
}
// get email
public function getEmail(){
return $this->email;
}
// get the function that was called
public function getFunction(){
return 'Called from function '.xdebug_call_function();
}
}
As you'll probably recall, the above "User" class implemented a basic method called "getFunction()," which utilized the "xdebug_call_function()" function to return to client code the name of the function that originally called the method in question.
To help you understand this concept more clearly, below there's a short code sample that demonstrates the functionality of the "xdebug_call_function()" function. Here it is:
try{
$user=new User('Alejandro','Gervasio','alejandro@domain.com');
echo $user->getFunction();
/* displays the following
Called from function {main}
*/
}
catch(Exception $e){
echo $e->getMessage();
exit();
}
Definitely, the previous script is very easy to follow. It shows that the pertinent "getFunction()" method that belongs to the "User" class was called originally from the "main" function in C (remember that PHP was built with this medium-level programming language). Simple and pretty illustrative, right?
Now that you've recalled how to use the "xdebug_call_function()" function of the X-debug library to keep track of the different function calls performed during the execution of a PHP script, it's time to explore a few other features provided by this debugging library.
In the following section I'll be explaining how to use the enhanced version of the native "var_dump()" PHP function for retrieving useful and abundant information on a specified variable.
To see how this function works you'll have to click on the link that appears below and keep reading.
