debugging

The hardest thing I find with tests is understanding errors. Every time I think I've got debugging output sorted, I find a new layer where it doesn't work, I've got nothing, and I'm in the dark with something that's crashing and I don't know why.

The first layer is simple: errors in your test code itself. For example, make a typo in your tests/src/Functional/MyTest.php and PHPUnit crashes and you see the error in the terminal.

There's a great module called the debug module. I'd give you the link… but it doesn't exist. Or rather, it's not a module you download. It's a module you write yourself, and write again, over and over again.

Do you ever want to inspect the result of a method call, or the data you get back from a service, the result of a query, or the result of some other procedure, without having to wade through the steps in the UI, submit forms, and so on?