This tip goes to the developer friends. To speed things up a bit when dealing with errors in Magento.

It is common (since the version 1.4.x version) the system display a security message like this:

Error log record number: 1234567890

Of course I will not explain everything again, if you want to know how to identify this error message, read the post: Error log record number – Identifying the problem.

In this post I will give some tips to display the errors on the screen, and how to configure this screen.

Pros and cons

When you play the error message on the screen, your system gets exposed as it is displaying the flaws that can be exploited in virtual attacks. So, use this tip only in the test environment.

Another advantage of hiding the message on the screen and generating a log file is that when a client encounters an error, the fault is stored in the error directory and you become aware of the failure. Otherwise, you would never know that your customer encountered a problem while browsing – would only know if he or she came in contact.

The standard (error log record number) does not help in navigating and guiding the user without knowing what happened and how to proceed. In this case it is interesting to customize this page, encouraging the customer to contact and inform what caused the problem (screen/action).

Enabling Developer Mode

Let’s see how to stop the system from generating log files and show errors in the browser. To do this open the index.php file.

In the older versions, it would suffice to remove the signal # from the word:

#Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);

In the most recent versions, a conditional has been added. That means you can set up a variable to activate that developer mode, or just delete (comment) the conditional (if) and save the file.

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

To set a value for this variable, open your server’s .htaccess file and add the following:

SetEnv MAGE_IS_DEVELOPER_MODE "127.0.0.1"

Remembering that this should only be done in your testing environment. And any value can be given to the variable, in this example I used “127.0.0.1“.

Monitoring email errors

A lot of people do not know, but whenever an error occurs in the system, you can be alerted by email. So be very careful when using this option because your email can be flooded with error messages.

At your Magento installation, see the file:

erros > local.xml.sample

Up to version 1.3.x would be the reports/config.xml folder

Make a copy of this file and rename it to local.xml, with the following settings:

    default
    
        email
        There was a store error
        your_email@your_domain.com
        leave
    

Now, whenever an error occurs, the system will automatically send an email to the address entered in the file. And a screen with contact form will be displayed to the user so that he can provide more information about the failure.

By filling out and submitting the form, you receive a second email about the failure. That can help you simulate the problem in a testing/development environment.

I hope these tips help make your work more productive. Also read the post: Incompatible Modules, where I cite the biggest causes of problems in Magento.

Success!