Search code examples
phpfunctiondrawgraphvizflowchart

PHP Application Flow Graph (or function call graph)

Happens that I've ended up working on a big PHP program and I need a program (or easy to install script) which draws a flow control/call graph of a PHP application (ie; must work over multiple PHP files). Already saw stuff like Graphviz, not sure which one works for PHP?

Any suggestions?

Cheers!

Solution

  • I have never used any tool that can do that statically (i.e. from source files), but here's a way to get a callgraph when executing a script/application.


    First, you need to install the Xdebug extension -- on a development/testing server (don't install it on a production server : it's quite bad for performances ^^ )

    Then, you can use its profiling features to generate a .cachegrindout file corresponding to the execution of a page-load.


    After that, you can load that .cachegrindout file with KCacheGrind (On linux -- I don't think there's a windows version) ; KCacheGrind can generate call-graphs from .cachegrindout files.

    And here's an example of callgraph you can get :

    KCacheGrind : Callgraph exported as an image
    (source: pascal-martin.fr)

    (Here's, it's been generated from a .cachegrindout file obtained while loading a page of Dotclear, a blogging software)