Debugging and Logging

Overview

The WP_Debug constant must be set to true in the wp_config.php application in order to write to the log file and the Willow plugin public class property $_debug OR an external debug control must be set to true + debugging is controlled either on a context, context + task level or directly via template config->debug = true setting

Willow writes to the standard WordPress debug file, called debug.log, which is located in the root or the wp-contents directory.

Global Debugging

Willow load a global context file, located at library/willow/global.php – this includes top level settings, as follows:

As this file is located in the Willow plugin, it is not advised to change this directly, instead create a matching file in your own parent or child theme and place it is the same logical position – that is library/willow/global.php from the root folder of the active parent or child theme – there is no need to include this file directly, Willow should find it.

This is also possible from a plugin, if it has been registered correctly with Willow – Read more

Context or Task Debugging

As with global configuration, each context can also have a configuration file to define context level settings, this can be placed in the same location as the global.php, but named according to the context – some examples are:

• ui.php control how ui context->tasks behave
• post.php define settings for post tasks
• module~search.php control settings for a specific task within the module context

In theory, all configuration could sit with one single, large, configuration file, but this quickly becomes unmanageable and less portable – so Willow both allows and encourages the creation of global, context and context+task specific files.

Within any of the configuration files listed above we can place any or all of the configuration options from global.php, re-defining the settings needed at a more granular level.

Note the naming convention of the files follows exactly the template usage – see this example:

{~ module~search ~} would load it’s configuration from module~search.php – with all the logic of fallbacks, priority and configuration merging taken into account.

Inline Debugging

In the following two examples, we are enabling debugging for the called Willow:

{~ [debug] group~frontpage_work{+ [array] 
	config->post = {% get_site_option{+ page_on_front +} %} 
+} ~}

~ OR ~

{~ group~frontpage_work{+ [array] 
	config = debug: true & 
	config->post = {% get_site_option{+ page_on_front +} %} 
+} ~}

The first example defines debugging via the [debug] flag, the second adds a configuration option via the array setter.

The result of this configuration setting will be to include a new key frontpage_work in the php debug output log, which will include important recorded events in the processing of the function data and output.

Notes

• Many aspects of how the debugging process works can be controlled via filters, from the file location to the default log keys to include – in order to understand better how this works, please view the code