Dizzying array of information; unclear setup

[lazycritic]

Hi - I'm a newbie programmer looking for a way to debug my php similar
to the way I use firebug to debut javascript. So far I haven't found
an answer. A while back I looked into FirePHP and couldn't figure out
how to get it working. I use a third-party to host my website and run
my php, by the way - altho I wouldn't mind installing php on my local
machine if necessary for debugging, I didn't find any instructions on
how to do that.

It's been a month or so since I wrote up the following, so perhaps
things have improved a little bit. Sorry if it sounds a bit like a
rant - but I hope it's helpful to myself and other people.

------


I'm finding it amazingly complicated to even start FirePHP,
DeveloperCompanion, or whatever it is exactly. There seems to be
conflation between FirePHP 0.7 (the only one available at http://firephp.org/
- see the link Stable Channel: Install FirePHP Extension 0.7.0 from
Mozilla Add-ons), FirePHP 1+ (not sure where you download this, but it
is discussed http://sourcemint.com/github.com/firephp/firephp/1:1.0.0b1rc6/-docs/Tutorials
and http://www.christophdorn.com/Blog/2010/11/29/firephp-1-0-in-5-steps/
- even as far back as 2010!). It's not really clear what is updated
and what is not. There's also, of course, this page, and a Google Code
page for FirePHP.

I went ahead and installed DeveloperCompanion, but I don't understand
that either. I searched for it, found reference.developercompanion.com/
Tools/FirePHPCompanion/Tutorials/, but this actually redirects to
http://sourcemint.com/github.com/firephp/firephp/1:1.0.0b1rc6/-docs/Tutorials.

Basically, I would recommend cleaning house and consolidating your
documentation so that you can focus on just a single high-quality
tutorial, in one place. The premium version should be a clear upgrade
from the free version. I don't mean to be a pain, and I hope I don't
come off that way, as there's obviously a ton of potential here.

[Christoph Dorn]

lazycritic 16 April, 2012 12:01 A

Basically, I would recommend cleaning house and consolidating your
documentation so that you can focus on just a single high-quality
tutorial, in one place. The premium version should be a clear upgrade
from the free version. I don't mean to be a pain, and I hope I don't
come off that way, as there's obviously a ton of potential here.

You have hit the nail on the head. I am in the process of reworking all docs and sites and with more tools and libraries coming out this is quite a process.
I hope to finish this soon and launch new information that is useful and to the point.

In the meantime you can get started like this:

1) Install Firebug.
2) Install: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firephp/
3) Download: http://www.firephp.org/HQ/Install.htm
4) Follow instructions:  http://www.firephp.org/HQ/Learn.htm

Hope this helps.

Christoph

[Hanspeter Siegfried]

Hi Christoph

Yes, this helps, but it's a step backwards. I've tried for hours to get developer companion and firephp 1.0 to work together, but I wasn't even able to connect them.
(If it's helpful for you, I could post the error messages displayed in the developer companion console instantly after starting devCom.)

[Christoph Dorn]

No progress on new releases as of yet.

I can try and help troubleshoot. Feel free to post error messages in this thread.

Christoph