Problem: PHPStorm will let you debug something running on a server running XDebug. But it never connects Context: Server is a Bitnami Magento stack running on VMWare. Configured XDebug by commenting out the lines at end of php.ini Solution: The problem is the line: xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1 This is the default line added by Bitnami to php.ini. But if…

Problem: Magento does not output log files Context: New Magento Install Solution: Turn them on in Admin In Magento admin go to System->Advanced:Developer->Log Setting. Set Enabled to YES. Still nothing will happen if there are no log messages. The log directory won’t exist, nor the log files until the first time something is output to the…

Problem: When running a VMWare virtual machine, the machine has an IP you can connect to, but that is hard to remember and subject to change. Context: VMWare running the Bitnami Magento image. Solution: Configure the local machine’s host file to know the VMs ip. Now you can create SFTP bookmarks with the domain name…

Problem: In a new install of magento you can create products but they don’t show on the home page. Context: New magento install Solution: To make things show up on your home page, you have to go to CMS->Pages and find,  “Home Page” and click to edit. Then add {{block type=”catalog/product_list” category_id=”XX” template=”catalog/product/list.phtml”}} where XX…

Problem: VMWare Fusion allows you to set up shared folders for a VM in its preferences. Once you have it enabled, where is the mount? Context: VMWare Fusion 5, Bitnamit Magento Image, Ubunto Solution: Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest After you have enabled a shared folder, you can mount one or more directories or…

I’ve taken a new approach to documentation during a development process. There have been a number of times – especially when dealing with Magento – that I’ve had a problem doing something, figured it out and then a few weeks later I have the same problem again and can’t remember how to solve it. Often…