Here is the situation.. I have some classes that are in one project... My main code is in another project... and i split this up because i am using GIT as my SCM... So when i debug my main code... i would like to step into the classes and debug them, but xdebug won't let me step into them... and i assume its because the classes are in another project... any ideas?
Thanks in advance...
I've run into this as well. I am going to assume that the way your projects look when they are deployed is that the classes in the separate project are copied into some directory somewhere in the main code.
Let's assume the separate project contains only one class, Foo, for simplicity's sake. Let's assume, too, that Foo is present in the deployed "main code" in the directory and file /maincode/external/lib/Foo.php. Finally, let's assume that /maincode/external/lib exists as a directory in your version-controlled "main code" project, and that it contains only a place-holder file and is otherwise empty.
First, use one of the many methods git provides to ignore the contents of the /maincode/external/lib directory in your NetBeans project directory for that project. We're going to make it look like it contains some stuff, and we don't want this directory, that is otherwise supposed to be empty, to get changes committed to it by mistake.
Now that it is ignored, make a symbolic link in that directory to Foo.php over in the other project. In Unix, you want the ln command, e.g.
ln -s /path/to/project/files/MyFooProject/Foo.php Foo.php
In Windows, you are looking for the mklink command, e.g.
mklink Foo.php C:\path\to\project\files\MyFooProject\Foo.php
Give NetBeans a moment or two to think about it (or force the issue by invoking the "Scan for external changes" command in the "Source" menu), and you should see Foo.php show up in the "maincode" project where you made the symbolic link.
Now, when you are tracing through execution and need to step into Foo.php to see what the Foo class is doing, you will step into the one that is in the "maincode" project. Since it is a symbolic link over to the file in the "MyFooProject" project, however, any chanes you make will be reflected over there.
Just be sure to unlink everything (the normal rm commmand in Unix, and the usual del command in Windows, but in the directory where the symbolic link is!) when you are through. Also, if there were things in the directory that you ignored that you want to be able to commit, then un-ignore that directory.
If you need to do this for more than just one file, then you can link whole directories. If, instead of the above, you normally copy the contents of "MyFooProject" into the directory /maincode/external/lib/myfoo/ in the deployed version, then just link the appropriate directory like you did the file above. In Windows, for example,
cd \path\to\project\files\maincode\external\lib
mklink /D myfoo C:\path\to\project\files\MyFooProject
That will make a symbolic directory link. It has been a while since I did anything like that on Unix, so I don't remember the exact command for the same thing on that OS (or if symbolic directory links are even possible on Unix). Once the directory is linked, you should see the new directory plus all of the files and subdirectories show up in your NetBeans "maincode" project, ready for your execution-tracing pleasure.
Again, remember to unlink and un-ignore everything once you are done, lest you wake up the next morning to find yourself confused. :) To unlink the directory in windows...
cd \path\to\project\files\maincode\external\lib
rmdir myfoo
and it should unlink. (Just be careful when you are deleteing and rmdir'ing that you are doing it to the symbolic link!)
