Debug Mode

by Anne Bowtell — last modified Feb 04, 2009 02:37 AM
Contributors: Yuri Carrer
Inevitably you won't get things right first time, so you need to make sure your site is running in debug mode.

CSS Debug Mode

Plone bundles all its CSS files into one or two for efficiency by using a resource registry (there is more information on how this works in the CSS and JavaScript to Page section). It is a lot easier to see what you're doing if you turn this function off when you're designing. You can do the same for JavaScript.

  • Go to Site Setup > Zope Management Interface > portal_css or portal_javascripts
  • Tick the debug check box

Zope Debug Mode

If you're making your own theme product, you'll also find it helpful to run Zope itself in debug mode. This is set in the zope.conf file which you'll find in /etc in your Zope instance. Just remove the # from this line:

#debug-mode = on

If you're using buildout, you can set this in buildout.cfg:

[instance]
debug-mode = on

You'll still need to restart from time to time, but changes to the Skin part of your theme made on the file system will refresh straightaway.

Can't see your changes?

Changes to.... Through the Web On the File System
Components Should see these immediately Restart Zope
Skins Should see these immediately Run Zope in debug mode
Style sheets and JavaScript Switch portal_css and portal_javascripts to debug Switch portal_css and portal_javascripts to debug
Configuration Should see these immediately Reinstall product with quick installer

Error messages

Plone comes with an error reporting module - PloneErrorReporting. When you've created a Plone site, you'll find this ready to install

  • Site Setup > Add/Remove Products

Make sure you uninstall it before you put a site into production mode.

Avoid restarting all the time

If you are doing a lot of work on components on the file system, you'll soon get tired of restarting Zope. plone.reload will save you time. Add it to your buildout configuration file like any other egg, rerun buildout and you'll find that you can reload your code via your browser.