Debug-Bar-Extender

This plugins adds more features to the debug-bar and is mainly aimed at developers who like to debug their code or want to measure runtimes to find glitches in their code.
It also allows lookup of variables by adding simple code snippets in your source.

Please note that this plugin should be used solely for debugging or on a development environment and is not intended for use in a production site.

Requirements

This plugin requires the debug-bar plugin >0.5 and a developers’ brain to work correctly.

Usage

Usage example to debug the loop of a theme

Add your checkpoints in the index.php or any other template file as shown below.

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

<?php Debug_Bar_Extender::instance()->checkpoint('loop start'); ?>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php Debug_Bar_Extender::instance()->trace_var( $post ); ?>

<?php Debug_Bar_Extender::instance()->checkpoint('loop1'); ?>

<div <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<?php //before_post(); ?>
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php printf(__('Permanent Link to %s', 'kubrick'), the_title_attribute('echo=0')); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<small><?php the_time(get_option('date_format')) ?> by <?php the_author() ?></small>
<div class="entry">
<?php the_content(__('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;', 'kubrick')); ?>
</div>
<p class="postmetadata"><?php the_tags(__('Tags:', 'kubrick') . ' ', ', ', '<br />'); ?> <?php printf(__('Posted in %s', 'kubrick'), get_the_category_list(', ')); ?> | <?php edit_post_link(__('Edit', 'kubrick'), '', ' | '); ?> <?php comments_popup_link(__('No Comments »', 'kubrick'), __('1 Comment »', 'kubrick'), __('% Comments »', 'kubrick')); ?></p>
<?php after_post(); ?>
</div>

<?php Debug_Bar_Extender::instance()->checkpoint('loop2'); ?>

<?php endwhile; ?>

<?php Debug_Bar_Extender::instance()->checkpoint('loop end'); ?>

<div class="navigation">
<div class="alignleft"><?php next_posts_link(__('&laquo; Older Entries', 'kubrick')) ?></div>
<div class="alignright"><?php previous_posts_link(__('Newer Entries &raquo;', 'kubrick')) ?></div>
</div>
<?php else : ?>

Advanced usage

Looking at the source of the debug-bar-extender.php you will notice that there are various filters to control the default settings. This is useful when you are working on a multisite install and want to use the debug bar without having to adjust the settings every time. Here’s an example of how settings enforced by a php file in mu-plugins/ could look like

add_filter( 'debugbarextender_default_settings', 'my_debug_bar_extender_settings' );
// enforce debug bar settings
function my_debug_bar_extender_settings( $default_settings ) {
    $default_settings = array(
            'enable_profiler'               => 1,
            'enable_variable_lookup'        => 1,
            'track_default_vars'            => 0,
            'add_default_checkpoints'       => 1,
            'savequeries_debugmode_enable'  => 1,
            'use_error_log'                 => 0,
            'allow_url_settings'            => 1,
            'enable_admin_bar_menu'         => 1,
    );
    return $default_settings;
}

add_filter( 'debugbarextender_default_checkpoint_actions', 'my_debug_bar_extender_checkpoints' );
// initiate some default checkpoints
function my_debug_bar_extender_checkpoints( $default_checkpoints ) {
    $default_checkpoints = array(
                    'muplugins_loaded',
                    'wp_head',
                    'wp_footer',
                    'loop_start',
                    'loop_end',
                    'shutdown',
    );
    return $default_checkpoints;
}

Wishlist

This is a work in progress, so feel free to pass by on our plugin page and leave us
your suggestions in the comments.