This document discusses essential tools and strategies for Magento 2 developers, highlighting the importance of effective debugging and feature creation to manage code complexity. The author emphasizes the use of specific tools like PHPStorm, Vagrant, Magicento2, and MSP CodeMonkey to streamline development processes and simplify the coding experience. Additionally, the document addresses common challenges developers face when debugging both personal and third-party code, suggesting techniques such as using Git Bisect and MSP Devtools to facilitate troubleshooting.

2. THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
The daily work of a [Magento 2] developer consists of two main job types
Debugging
existing features
Creating
new features
Your code
3rd party’s
(or core) code
A B

3. We will focus on this
Debugging
existing features
Creating
new features
Your code
3rd party’s
(or core) code
A B
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

4. A SHORT HINT ON: CREATING FEATURES
You will need these thingies:
§ PHPStorm IDE
§ Vagrant (or Docker ?)
§ GIT
§ Magicento2
§ Pestle
§ MSP CodeMonkey
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

5. A SHORT HINT ON: CREATING FEATURES
Pestle, Magicento 2 and MSP CodeMonkey because:
§ Magento 2 requires a lot of boilerplate code
§ A typo is always lurking somewhere
§ Your time is not free
§ Magento 2 is not always DRY compliant
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

6. A SHORT HINT ON: CREATING FEATURES
Example of code complexity: Magento 1 vs. Magento 2
Magento 1 – DB Models:
§ Model
§ ResourceModel
§ Collection
§ Install / Upgrade scripts
§ config.xml
Magento 2 – DB Models:
§ Model
§ ResourceModel
§ Collection
§ Install / Upgrade scripts
§ Repository
§ RepositoryInterface
§ ManagementInterface
§ DataInterface
§ Dependency Injection
§ Getters / Setters in DataInterface
§ API Preferences
Total involved files: 4-5 Total involved files: 8-9
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

7. A SHORT HINT ON: CREATING FEATURES
MSP CodeMonkey can create a whole PSR-2 compliant DB model source code with
API, Interfaces, getters and setters. Just typing:
~$ bin/magento codemonkey:crud My_Module MyModelName my_sql_table
Magicento 2 and Pestle can create controllers, modules, plugins, observers and lots
of other coding entities in few clicks.
Your client does not always understand how complex this job is!
So make it as simple as possible for you because you will not be paid for this!
REMEMBER
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

8. DEBUGGING
Your code
3rd party’s
(or core) code
DEBUGGING & REVERSE ENGINEERING
are the actual 99% work of a developer
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

9. DEBUGGING FEATURES
Common scenario when you’re debugging your code:
§ You do not know where the broken piece of code may be.
§ It is very hard to let the client understand that debugging is part
(actually: the most) of developing, so:
§ You probably do not have any of the project’s budget left;
§ Plus, you have a very short time to fix it!
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

10. DEBUGGING FEATURES
Common scenario when you’re debugging 3rd party’s code:
§ You have no clue about the how the work’s engineered.
§ You still do not know where the broken piece of code is.
§ You hope the programmer who worked on that code before you did not
touch the core.
§ The programmer who created that feature is now probably on permanent
vacation and/or does not speak a single word of your language!
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

11. HOPE IT’S NOT A
MESS OF
SPAGHETTI CODE
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
“I’ve seen PHP code you people wouldn’t believe…”

12. DEBUGGING FEATURES
Debugging process can be tricky in Magento 2.
Magento 2 has lots of new ways to intercept and change the standard core behaviour...
(I mean without changing the core! Do not try this at home!)
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
Magento 1 rewriting tools
§ Rewrites
§ Routes hijacking
§ Observers
§ Layout updates
Magento 2 rewriting tools
§ Stackable preferences
§ Routes hijacking
§ Observers
§ Layout updates
§ Stackable plugins (after, before, around)
§ Extension attributes
§ Modifiers pool

13. DEBUGGING FEATURES
FINDING THE PIECE OF CODE YOU
NEED CAN BE OFTEN CHALLENGING
AND TIME CONSUMING.
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

14. DEBUGGING FEATURES
So the hard part is simply
FIND SOME PIECE OF CODE DOING SOMETHING SOMEHOW SOMEWHERE
and, once found
FIX SOMETHING BROKEN SOMEWHERE WITH
SOME THING YOU WILL DO SOMEHOW
As easy as pie… isn’t it?
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

15. DEBUGGING FEATURES
§ PhpStorm as IDE
§ MSP DevTools
§ To find out where the code is
§ PHP Xdebug
§ To find out what’s wrong with the code
§ GIT bisect
§ To find out when you broke it
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

16. DEBUGGING FEATURES: MSP DEVTOOLS
§ Magento 1 & Magento 2 support
§ Free github project
§ Chrome extension
§ Chrome inspector integration
§ PHPStorm integration
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

17. DEBUGGING FEATURES
MSP DevTools allows to inspect:
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
§ Blocks
§ Observers
§ Plugins
§ Preferences
§ Design
§ UI Components
§ SQL queries
§ Profiler results
§ ...

18. DEBUGGING FEATURES: PHP X-DEBUG
§ Suspend code execution
§ Inspect variables
§ Log results
§ Runtime variables value change
§ PHP Storm integrates it
§ You can do the same with “var_dump”, “print_r” and “echo”,
but everytime you do that, a programmer dies somewhere!
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

20. DEBUGGING FEATURES: GIT BISECT
A typical customer’s bug report is like:
If you manage to understand what is actually broken you can use GIT bisect.
So you just need to know:
§ what the broken features is and
§ when it was working for the last time.
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
“Yesterday all was working on the website, today nothing
works! Fix it!!11!1!!”

21. DEBUGGING FEATURES: GIT BISECT
THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
Works like this

23. THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta

24. THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT JOB (OR: SURVIVING MAGENTO 2 CODING)
#mm17it | Riccardo Tempesta
THANK YOU!
KEEP CALM
AND
I WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS