The most useful function you will ever use in the Zend Framework

October 1st, 2007 by Jaybill McCarthy

Zend_Debug::dump() is a really handy part of the framework that simply dumps the contents of whatever you give it to print_r and wraps it in <pre></pre>.

I got tired of typing it out every time, so I added the following shorthand functions to my bootstrap file. (The only acceptable use of a function in a bootstrap, in my mind.)

  1.  
  2. require_once("Zend/Debug.php"); // next time we’re going to talk about __autoload()
  3.  
  4. /**
  5. * dd is a shorthand function for "dump and die". It takes whatever you give it and
  6. * spits it to d(), then dies.  Useful for debugging.
  7. */
  8.  
  9. function dd($val){
  10. d($val);
  11. die();
  12. }
  13.  
  14. /**
  15. * This is so I don’t have to keep typing Zend_Debug::dump($whatever);
  16. */
  17. function d($val){
  18. Zend_Debug::dump($val);
  19. }

Posted in Zend_Debug, zend, zend framework |

2 Responses to “The most useful function you will ever use in the Zend Framework”

  1. Matt Gardner Says:

    Nice man. I’ve taken this a little further by allowing a ‘developer’ flag to ensure any calls that make it to production are at least hidden. Next level would be to post a warning instead so any that remain will be logged.

    if ($config->developer == true){
    $front->throwExceptions(true);
    function d($val) { Zend_Debug::dump($val); }
    function dd($val){ d($val); die(); }
    } else {
    function d($val) { return; }
    function dd($val){ return; }
    }

    Thanks, Matt

  2. Jeremy Kendall Says:

    Nice. I must type Zend_Debug… at least 10 times a day. This is one of those things that you see and think, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

    I make heavy use of the $label param myself, so I modded the functions to include both $label and $echo params, ie:

    d($val, $label=”", $echo=true);

    Works like a charm.

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