Best method for debugging a called webservice in php?

Question

I have an n-tier system where a frontend templating layer makes calls out to a backend application server. For instance, I need to retrieve some search results, and the frontend calls the backend to get the results.

Both the templating engine and the appserver are written in PHP. I currently use PHPed to initiate debug sessions to the templating engine, however, when the http request goes out to remote service my debugger just sits and waits for the IO to complete.

What I would like to do is emulate the HTTP call but really just stay inside my PHP process, do a giant push of the environment onto some kind of stack, then have my appserver environment load and process the call. After the call is done, I do an env pop, and get the results of the http call in a var (for instance, via an output buffer). I can run both services on the same server. Does anyone have any ideas or libraries that already do this?

Answer 1

Can you not run a debugger and set a breakpoint in the appserver too? Two different debug sessions - one to trap the templating engine call and one to trap the call in the appserver.

You should be able to trace the output from the appserver in the templating engine debugging session.

If it is not possible to run two debug sessions then create some test inputs for the appserver by capturing outputs from the templating engine and use a single debugger with your test appserver inputs.