3.2.4.4. Docker Toolbox: Xdebug for Visual Studio Code¶

Docker Toolbox regardless of running on MacOS or Windows requires an additional port-forward from your host operating system to the Docker Toolbox machine.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites
- General
- Docker Toolbox port-forward
Assumption
Configuration

3.2.4.4.1. Prerequisites ¶

3.2.4.4.1.1. General ¶

Ensure you know how to customize php.ini values for the Devilbox and have a rough understanding about common Xdebug options.

3.2.4.4.1.2. Docker Toolbox port-forward ¶

Forward host port 9000 to Docker Toolbox machine:

Your IDE/editor will open up port 9000 on your host operating system. PHP Xdebug requires this port to connect to in order to send Xdebug events. As Docker Toolbox itself runs in a virtual machine, you need to forward traffic from the same port in that virtual machine back to your host operating system.

See also

SSH port-forward on Docker Toolbox from host

SSH port-forward on host to Docker Toolbox

3.2.4.4.2. Assumption ¶

For the sake of this example, we will assume the following settings and file system paths:

Directory	Path
Devilbox git directory	`/home/cytopia/repo/devilbox`
HOST_PATH_HTTPD_DATADIR	`./data/www`
Resulting local project path	`/home/cytopia/repo/devilbox/data/www`
Selected PHP version	`5.6`

The Resulting local project path is the path where all projects are stored locally on your host operating system. No matter what this path is, the equivalent remote path (inside the Docker container) is always /shared/httpd.

Important

Remember this, when it comes to path mapping in your IDE/editor configuration.

3.2.4.4.3. Configuration ¶

3.2.4.4.3.1. Install vscode-php-debug for VSCode ¶

Ensure you have vscode-php-debug installed for Visual Studio Code.

See also

vscode-php-debug

3.2.4.4.3.2. Configure VSCode ¶

You will need to configure the path mapping in launch.json (VSCode configuration file):

launch.json¶

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Xdebug for Project mytest",
            "type": "php",
            "request": "launch",
            "port": 9000,
            "pathMappings": {
                "/shared/httpd/mytest/htdocs": "${workspaceFolder}/htdocs"
            }
        }, {
            "name": "Launch currently open script",
            "type": "php",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "cwd": "${fileDirname}",
            "port": 9000
        }
    ]
}

Important

Recall the path settings from the Assumption section and adjust if your configuration differs!

Important

The above example configures Xdebug for a single project mytest. Add more projects as you need.

3.2.4.4.3.3. Configure php.ini ¶

Note

The following example show how to configure PHP Xdebug for PHP 5.6:

Create an xdebug.ini file (must end by .ini):

# Navigate to the Devilbox git directory
host> cd path/to/devilbox

# Navigate to PHP 5.6 ini configuration directory
host> cd cfg/php-ini-5.6/

# Create and open debug.ini file
host> vi xdebug.ini

Copy/paste all of the following lines into the above created xdebug.ini file:

xdebug.ini¶

; Defaults
xdebug.default_enable=1
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_port=9000

; The Docker Toolbox way
xdebug.remote_connect_back=0
xdebug.remote_host=docker.for.lin.host.internal

; idekey value is specific to Visual Studio Code
xdebug.idekey=VSCODE

; Optional: Set to true to always auto-start xdebug
xdebug.remote_autostart=false

Important

Ensure the port-forward is in place as mentioned in the Prerequisites section.

Note

Host os and editor specific settings are highlighted in yellow and are worth googling to get a better understanding of the tools you use and to be more efficient at troubleshooting.

3.2.4.4.3.4. Restart the Devilbox ¶

Restarting the Devilbox is important in order for it to read the new PHP settings. Note that the following example only starts up PHP, HTTPD and Bind.

# Navigate to the Devilbox git directory
host> cd path/to/devilbox

# Stop, remove stopped container and start
host> docker-compose stop
host> docker-compose rm
host> docker-compose up php httpd bind