Tracing PHP & Drupal without modifying the code.
Hello. My name is Jorge and I am new to Drupal and PHP. I do have some **self-educated** background in programming several languages (C++, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, Basic, Assembler, etc) so I am probably better prepared than most to learn PHP, yet still I need some help.
I have successfully created a Portable XAMPP on USB installation and installed Drupal 6 but now comes the part that I don't know how to do...
With all of the languages that I have learned in the past I have learned best by tracing through the code. But there has always been an Entry Point (EP) for the code. With an EP I am able to **become** the language parser, follow the code step-by-step, and learn how everything works. I can't seem to figure out the Ep for Drupal. I suspect there may be more than one, for example one for initializing the website even if no one is actually browsing it yet, and one for when someone lands on a given webpage and starts the display process.
I want to learn PHP and learn Drupal at the same time by tracing the entire package. I want to **become** the Drupal engine so to speak. Learn by doing/being from the inside if you will.
My questions:
1. What Entry Points exist for Drupal?
2. Is there any kind of debugger application (hopefully low cost or open source) that would allow me to walk through the code one step at a time without modifying it. The PHP backtrace function is not really going to help unless I make hundreds of modifications to the code so please this is not what I am looking for.
Drupal has a single point of
Drupal has a single point of entry, /index.php (exceptions: install.php, update.php, etc.) the actual page request is contained giver as the GET variable q (see also arg() )
any good IDE with PHP support (eclipse + PDT for example) allows to to go step by step trough the code.
also, all code documentaation can also be found at http://api.drupal.org
less == more
Cool. I will start there and
Cool. I will start there and yell if I get stuck (I haven't worked with eclipse before so I may end up asking a few [no such thing as a dumb] questions on that too). Learning Drupal is not a top priority in my life although it could certainly become an obsession (note to self: check pantry for supplies of Jolt and Redbull) if I am not careful. This may take a while so don't expect a reply too soon but I will post my experiences here for the benefit of future Drupal newbies.
Thank you alexanderpas for the information.
PS: Above you say "exceptions: install.php, update.php, etc." and I am wondering about the "etc."? Is there a list of these exceptions? Remember I am brand new at Drupal so it isn't all so obvious to me. Example: I understand what install.php does and frommy experience with the install I guess there is a flag somewhere in the index.php codestream that indicates a need to call install.php. On the other hand I will have to go figure out exactly what update.php does and when/how to access it.
Have patience, I tend to start out mentally thick as January molasses but I get better pretty fast. :)
- Jorge Verde
Do I need Zend Debugger?
OK, first [no such thing as a dumb] question: Do I need Zend? While exploring the Eclipse PDT pages I end up on the Zend website where there are several options (see http://www.zend.com/en/community and http://www.zend.com/en/community/PDT). Should I install this as a help or is this overkill for my needs?
- Jorge Verde