Configuring PHP, Apache, MySQL, and Xdebug for PHP development in MAC OS X
This tutorial shows you how to set up PHP on the MAMP
(Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, PHP) package, which includes the Apache web
server, the MySQL database server, and the PHP engine. MAMP is intended as a PHP development environment
for the Mac, which can work seamlessly with the NetBeans IDE.
Xdebug is an extension for PHP that aids
in providing information valuable for debugging PHP scripts. The NetBeans debugger
works on top of the Xdebug extension, providing an effective debugging tool in
your development environment.
Note: The MAMP package includes the Apache web server, PHP engine,
and MySQL database. Mac OS X 10.5 and later include the MySQL database and Apache server with PHP support.
While it certainly is possible to configure the built-in database and server with the IDE, MAMP's
all-in-one bundle provides a convenient and easily configurable solution.
Extract the downloaded file and run the .dmg file. When the installer displays,
drag MAMP into your /Applications folder.
Navigate to /Applications/MAMP and double-click MAMP.app. The MAMP
Control Panel opens.
You can also install the MAMP Control dashboard widget as described
in MAMP/README.rtf, which enables you to start and stop servers.
Click Preferences to open the Preferences panel, then select the Ports tab.
Click Set to Default Apache and MySQL ports. Apache port is reset to 80 and MySQL to 3306.
Registering MAMP's MySQL Database
MAMP's MySQL database is located by default at /Applications/MAMP/db/MySQL.
The default username and password are both root, which you can verify by
viewing the details in MAMP's welcome page which opens in a browser when you run MAMP.
The IDE interfaces with databases from the Services window (⌘-5).
You can register the MAMP's MySQL database by doing the following:
Right-click the Databases > MySQL Server node and choose Properties. The MySQL
Server Properties dialog displays. You can configure all MySQL settings from this
dialog.
Enter the database server's host name and port number, as well as its username and
password. All of this information is displayed on MAMP's welcome page when you run
the server and database. The default settings for running MAMP locally are:
Server Host Name: localhost
Server Port Number: 3306
Administrator User Name: root
Administrator Password: root
Select the Admin Properties tab to display settings that enable you to start
and stop the database server from the IDE. MAMP maintains shell scripts in
its bin folder. You can find scripts for starting and stopping
servers there. For the path to the Admin tool, you have a choice; you can
link to MAMP.app so that you can use the IDE to open MAMP's
control panel. To do so, enter /Applications/MAMP/MAMP.app. However,
an alternative option would be to use the
MySQL Workbench,
which provides an intuitive GUI interface for performing administrative operations
(i.e., configuring and monitoring the MySQL server, managing users and connections,
performing backups, etc.). To use MySQL Workbench, first download and install it,
then enter the following settings into the dialog:
Path/URL to admin tool: /Applications/MySQL Tools/MySQLWorkbench.app(default installation for MySQL Workbench)
Path to start command: /Applications/MAMP/bin/startMysql.sh
Path to stop command: /Applications/MAMP/bin/stopMysql.sh
If you choose to use the MySQL Workbench as your MySQL admin tool, you need to specify
the socket for the connection to MAMP's database. Start MySQL Workbench and from the main page, click
New Server Instance in the Server Administration column.
The Create New Server Instance Profile dialog opens. Select the
Local Socket/Pipe connection method and add the path to the
socket file in the Parameters tab. The default location of the socket is:
/Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock.
Creating PHP Projects
When you create a PHP project in the IDE using MAMP's resources, you should specify that the
IDE copy your sources to Apache's htdocs folder. That way, when you save your
files after making changes, your sources are automatically updated in the deployed version.
For example, when creating a new PHP project use the New Project Wizard (click the New Project
icon in the IDE's toolbar ( ). In the third step of the wizard, Run Configuration, select the
Copy files from Sources Folder to another location option and type in the path to the htdocs
folder.
The IDE remembers this location for future projects. For further
instructions on creating PHP projects in NetBeans IDE, see Setting
Up a PHP Project.
Enabling Xdebug with MAMP
MAMP contains a pre-compiled xdebug.so file. To use this file, enable it in MAMP's php.ini. Xdebug does not work together with Zend Optimizer, so you also have to disable Zend Optimizer in php.ini.
To enable Xdebug with MAMP:
Open the php.ini file in an editor. This file is located in:
/Applications/MAMP/conf/php5/php.ini.
Locate the [Zend] section and comment out every line.
For an explanation of these properties, see Related Settings in the Xdebug Remote Debugging
documentation.
Note that the remote port specified for Xdebug in the previous step is: 9000. This is
the default debugger port used in NetBeans. To verify this, choose NetBeans >
Preferences from the main menu, then select PHP in the Options window.
If needed, you can change the debugger port here.
Open the MAMP control panel and select the PHP tab. Deselect Zend Optimizer.
Start (or restart) the MAMP Apache server.
Debugging PHP Projects
To debug a PHP project in the IDE, right-click the project in the Projects window and choose
Debug. Alternately, if the project is highlighted in the Projects window, you can click the
Debug Project icon ( ) in the main toolbar.
You can set the debugger to suspend on the first line of code by enabling
this option in the PHP Options window.
When a debugger session is active, the debugger toolbar displays above the editor.
You can also verify that a PHP debugging session is active by opening the Sessions window.
Choose Window > Debugging > Sessions from the main menu.
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