XAMPP is a reliable and fast way to set up environment for PHP programming. It provides all the components required for developing, running, debugging, and unit testing of PHP applications. XAMPP is a good alternative to installing and configuring a Web server, a PHP engine, a database server, and a debug engine separately. I was having issues getting any sort of debug connection working locally, I have both PHPStorm and Apache on the same machine so all localhost here. So I uninstalled apache + php + mysql and started off with a fresh xampp install. I have a Windows 7 machine with XAMPP(Apache 2.4.4 - Win32 PHP 5.4.16) and PHPStorm 6.0.3 For the life of me I cannot get XDebug working on this machine!! I look at my PHPInfo page: This tells me. PHPstorm for example works very well with Zend Debugger and you will not miss xDebug. We don't provide any support via personal channels like PM, email, Skype, TeamViewer! It's like porn for programmers. For POST add to your post parameter XDEBUGSESSIONSTART=PHPSTORM. Start your debugger. How to use PhpStorm for debugging your php code is a post for another day.I hope this recent post gets someone out of problem. Troubleshooting Are you having trouble debugging? Is PHPStorm not recognising your project path?

Lab Exercise: Installing XAMPP and Configuring it with PhpStorm

This document is a walkthrough through the process of installing and configuring XAMPP. After following all steps you will have fully configured XAMPP with PhpStorm integration.

This lab is part of the “Software Technologies” course @ SoftUni.

XAMPP is a software package that bundles in a single package PHP + Apache + MySQL + phpMyAdmin + some other tools for PHP Web development in Windows environment.

Part I: Installing XAMPP and Configuring the Apache Server and MySQL Database

This first part will show you how to install XAMPP, start the Apache server, and create your first MySQL DB.

Configure Xdebug Phpstorm

1.Downloading XAMPP

Download XAMPP version 7.0.6 from https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html.

2.Installing XAMPP

The pictures below will show you the steps that you need to go through, in order to successfully install XAMPP.

Install XAMPP in thedefault directory (“C:xampp”), or you might encounter permission troubles later on.

3.XAMPP First Start

The first time you start XAMPP you will get language selection screen like this one:

After you choose the language you prefer, you will see the main screen of XAMPP:

4.Start Apache Server

Now we need to start Apache server:

Phpstorm Xdebug Ssh

If everything is correct, the Apache label will become green, and you will see the default ports – 80. If you have Skype or a torrent client running, the Apache server will not start. You need to exit the program that holds port 80, and the Apache server will start.

Part II: Connect the Debugger, Apache Server and MySQL DB to PhpStorm

This part will show you how to configure XAMPP with PhpStorm.

5.Go to the PhpStorm Home Page

If it’s the first time you start PhpStorm, it will be quite easy. You will start there. If you have started PhpStorm before, you need to either close your current project using File ->Close Project option or simply skip this step and go to File ->DefaultSettings. You should see this screen:

As you can see in the picture, you need to go to the settings menu.

6.Install the PHP Debugger

Once you are in the setting menu you need to go to Languages & Frameworkstab and select PHP. We need to change the PHPversion to PHP7.

After that we need to change the PHP Interpreter:

On the default interpreters page, we need to click the green plus.

After we do that, we will see this window:

We need to choose the PHP Executable now. In order to do that, we need to find our XAMPP folder and choose the ‘php’ directory.

If everything is alright, you should see this:

Let’s give PhpStorm a break. We need to download a debugger. We will download Xdebug from here: http://xdebug.org/files/php_xdebug-2.4.0-7.0-vc14.dll. Place the downloaded file to “C:xamppphpext”.

Now we need to edit the php configuration. Open the php.ini file located in “C:xamppphpphp.ini”.

Once you open the file add the following lines:

zend_extension = C:xamppphpextphp_xdebug-2.4.0-7.0-vc14.dll
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
Restart XAMPP and run the Apache and MySQL modules again.

If you’ve done everything correctly, you should see the following screen:

7.Create PHP Debugger Configuration

Now we need to create a configuration for our debugger. We need to do that for everyproject/php file. IMPORTANT: The project must be createdin the htdocs folder (located in the main XAMPP folder).

Choose a PHP Web Application on the drop down after you click the green plus.

Edit the Configuration Name and add new server.

Add new server with Host = localhost, on port 80 with Xdebug debugger.

At last we need to select the newly created server, and edit the URL. In the URL part you need to locate the file that you want to debug starting from localhost. In the example below my file is in project DebuggerConfig with file name homeController.php.

The result should be the following:

Now you are readytostartusing PHP!