How to enable Developer Mode in Magento 1.7

Question

I am trying to enable Developer Mode on a site using Magento 1.7. So far I've added :

SetEnv MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE "true"

to the .htaccess file and :

...
if (isset($_SERVER['MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE'])) {
    Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
}
...

to the index.php file as described here. I have even removed the If clause, leaving only :

...
    Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
...

in the index.php file. But still no luck. What am I missing? What should I do in order to enable Developer Mode?

Answer 1

Try the following in your index.php file:

if (isset($_SERVER['MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE'])) {
    Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
    ini_set(’display_errors’, 1);
}

Also make sure to double check that you have:

1. Disable Cache System > Cache Management > Select All [check-boxes] > Actions = Disable > Submit

2. Re-Index All System > Index Management > Select All [check-boxes] > Actions = Reindex Data > Submit

3. Disable Compilation System > Tools > Compilation > Disable

Note: By default compilation mode is disabled. So just check if the Compiler Status is Enabled or not.

4. Turn on Logging System > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > Log Settings > Enabled => Yes

Answer 2

Three possible things to check

1. You're editing the wrong index.php/.htaccess file

2. You have other custom code in the system that's turning developer mode off

3. Your expectations of what developer does are incorrect (Describing you expectation mismatch may help people debug your problem)

Answer 3

Try the following in your index.php file: Move Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true); from If condition.

if (isset($_SERVER['MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE'])) {
    Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
    ini_set(’display_errors’, 1);
}


TO

Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
if (isset($_SERVER['MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE'])) {
    ini_set(’display_errors’, 1);
}

Answer 4

It can be due to server redirection also.

Please check phpinfo output and check $_SERVER['REDIRECT_MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE'] variable also.

Explanation :

If You are working with the Apache module mod_rewrite and want to set some environment vars, the Apache manual says these vars could be accessed in CGI using $ENV{VAR}. In PHP You might want to write $_ENV['VAR'] to get the value of VAR, but You have to access if via $_SERVER, and in some different ways :

1. Example: .htaccess and example.php

RewriteEngine on RewriteRule ^?var1=([^;]);var2=([^;])$ \ - [E=VAR1:$1,E=VAR2:$2]

2. Example: .htaccess and index.php

RewriteEngine on RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L] RewriteRule ?var1=([^;]);var2=([^;])$ \ index.php [E=VAR1:$1,E=VAR2:$2]

Note: If any RewriteRule matches, an internal redirect than restarts (after the last defined rule, or immediately after the matched rule having a L-flag) checking the entire rule set again. For an internal redirect, every defined VAR gets an 'REDIRECT_' prefix, i.e. VAR1 will be REDIRECT_VAR1, VAR2 will be REDIRECT_VAR2.

Of course, You can (additionally) redefine the original VAR:

RewriteEngine on RewriteRule ^index.php$ \ - [E=VAR1:%{REDIRECT_VAR1},E=VAR2:%{REDIRECT_VAR2},L] RewriteRule ?var1=([^;]);var2=([^;])$ \ index.php [E=VAR1:$1,E=VAR2:$2]

With this, You will have $_SERVER['REDIRECT_VAR*'] and $_SERVER['VAR*'].

---

The given examples are only for explanation, in any case, they are not intended to fit Your needs. The "\" in the .htaccess examples are only for display purpose, they should not occur in a real .htaccess file. The argument separator ';' in links can also be '&', but this may cause some trouble with HTML/XHTML. See the following pages for more information about this issue:

• http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/appendix/notes.html#h-B.2.2

• http://www.w3.org/QA/2005/04/php-session