Visual Studio Code - Xdebug won't work - php

Question

In Visual Studio Code (1.9.1) (mac) i have setup the php-debug plugin.
In the debug screen i start 'listen for Xdebug'.
After this i open the index.php on my XAMPP server (local).
But nothing happens.
the blue bar at the bottom of the screen turns orange.
the step over, step into and step out buttons are greyed out.
Also the following error message occurs at the watched variables:
cannot evaluate code without an connection
I try to use breakpoints on the following code:
<?php
$i = 0;
do {
$i++;
if (!($i % 1)) {
echo('<p>$i = ' . $i . '</p>');
}
}
while ($i < 100);
?>
I am using XAMPP and in my php.ini file i use port 9000 for Xdebug.
zend_extension="/usr/local/Cellar/php71-xdebug/2.5.0/xdebug.so"
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
xdebug.remote_autostart = 1
xdebug.remote.port=9000
I installed Xdebug using homebrew.
Here is my php info:
phpinfo.htm
Xdebug wizard tells me Xdebug is installed correctly.
my launch.json file looks like this:
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Listen for XDebug",
"type": "php",
"request": "launch",
"port": 9000,
"log": true
},
{
"name": "Launch currently open script",
"type": "php",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${file}",
"cwd": "${fileDirname}",
"port": 9000
}
]
}
Would anyone know what i am doing wrong?
After setting the xdebug.remote_connect_back = 1 in the ini file
as n00dl3 suggested debugging most of the time works, but once in a while i get the following
error in the debug console:
<- threadEvent
ThreadEvent {
seq: 0,
type: 'event',
event: 'thread',
body: { reason: 'exited', threadId: 1 } }

Answer 1

I encountered this problem as well, not with the same environment (NGINX server + php-fpm) but the same symptoms. It turned out to be caused by my xdebug configuration.
How I managed to diagnose it : by writing a simple PHP script for test just like OP did :
<?php
xdebug_info();
By browsing to it, I got a bunch of info on my setup, including :
xdebug.client_host => localhost
xdebug.client_port => 9003
whereas my xdebug was listening on port 9900 (default being 9000).
Steps to fix : just add the following lines to your php.ini or xdebug.ini (wherever the rest of your xdebug configuration lies) :
# This should match your xdebug.remote_host
xdebug.client_host=localhost
# This should match your xdebug.remote_port
xdebug.client_port=9900
xdebug.mode=debug
Then rerun a debug session in VScode, add some breakpoints, and re-browse to your script : my VScode window popped up, the execution was paused on the breakpoint and the variables where accessible in the debug pannel just like expected.
EDIT : don't forget to also :
add xdebug.mode=debug to your php.ini
restart webserver and php-fpm services.

Answer 2

It seemed the server root needed to be set
in the launch.json with localSourceRoot like this:
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Listen for XDebug",
"type": "php",
"request": "launch",
"port": 9000,
"log": true,
"localSourceRoot": "http://127.0.0.1/public_html/"
},
{
"name": "Launch currently open script",
"type": "php",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${file}",
"cwd": "${fileDirname}",
"port": 9000
}
]
}
Now breakpoints are working like they should.

Answer 3

In my case, these two lines were missing from the php.ini file.
xdebug.mode = debug
xdebug.start_with_request = yes

Answer 4

Check xdebug.client_port
in page xdebug_info(); or phpinfo();
Config same port in launch.json of vscode

Answer 5

I just had this problem too.
Somehow, someday, without realizing it, I got version 3 of xdebug installed, and a lot of conf param name changed , see this SO question
So verifying the xdebug version with phpinfo for example can be worth a shot.

Answer 6

I am working with VSCODE devcontainer and I fix with the config below:
My launch.json for VSCODE
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Xdebug",
"type": "php",
"request": "launch",
"port": 9003
}
]
}
I use Dockerfile with a RUN below to install xdebug:
RUN pecl install xdebug && docker-php-ext-enable xdebug
I find my xdebug config file in /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini
I edit the file as below:
zend_extension=xdebug
[xdebug]
xdebug.mode=debug
xdebug.client_host=host.docker.internal
xdebug.start_with_request=yes
xdebug.idekey=VSCODE
Or you can add it in Dockfile like below:
RUN echo ' \n[xdebug] \n\
xdebug.client_host=host.docker.internal \n\
xdebug.mode=debug \n\
xdebug.start_with_request=yes \n\
xdebug.idekey="VSCODE" \n\
\n' >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini
mode This setting controls which Xdebug features are enabled. We’ve set develop to enable development aids, such as getting better error messages, and debug to enable step debugging.
client_host This setting tells Xdebug the IP address or hostname of the machine that is running your text editor or IDE.
start_with_request This setting determines whether a function trace, garbage collection statistics, profiling, or step debugging are activated at the start of a PHP request. Setting it to yes instructs Xdebug to always initiate a debugging session.