Why is my VS Code breakpoint in my Laravel project not working?

Question

I am using VS Code to debug my Laravel project. I have installed the PHP Debug extension and configured PHP to debug using XDebug. Server is Apache (using Xampp). I am able to access my site using my browser, but the breakpoint I set inside my project using VS Code is never hit? What am I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

I am a completely new to VS Code, Laravel & XDebug. I personally battled to set breakpoints in VS Code so I could debug my Laravel project. I am posting this to try and help any other beginners out there who battled to set breakpoints in VS Code in order to debug a Laravel project.

Visual Studio Code + Xampp + XDebug Debugging:

Install VS Code

Install Xampp

In VS Code: Ctrl + J

Confirm PHP is installed: php -v

Install PHP Debug (Debug support for PHP with XDebug) extension in VS Code by clicking on Install

Use Xampp to get your php.ini information

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Install XDebug:

1.1 Use XDebug Installation Wizard (https://xdebug.org/wizard.php) to generate dll needed.

1.2 Download generated dll XDebug file to: C:\xampp\php\ext

1.3 Configure PHP to use XDebug -Go to Xampp and open php.ini file -Add the following:

[XDebug]
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
xdebug.remote_autostart = 1
zend_extension = "C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.6.0-7.2-vc15.dll" (change this to your version of dll file)

1.4 Change default Xampp project directory:

-in Xampp Control Panel go to Apache config and select httpd.config

-in httpd.config go to "DocumentRoot" and change from "C:/xampp/htdocs" to a local folder where PHP projects are located.

-in httpd.config go to "DocumentRoot"'s "Directory" and change from "C:/xampp/htdocs" to same local folder where PHP projects are located.

example: DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs"

Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs"

changed to:

DocumentRoot "C:/Users/..."

Directory "C:/Users/..."

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In VS Code goto File --> Preferences --> Settings

Add the following: php.validate.executablePath: "C:\xampp\php\php.exe"

To debug project in VS Code:

-First delete current launch.json file in .vscode

-Click on Debug --> Configure or Fix "launch.json" --> Select PHP (this will create a new launch.json file)

-In your browser, Goto localhost and open your website (project you want to debug)

-In VS Code, set a breakpoint in the file you want to debug (make sure it is in a PHP command section)

-In VS Code click on Debug --> "Listen for XDebug"

-In your browser refresh your website

-In VS Code your breakpoint should hit