How to emulate/simulate/test a PHP script on my pc?

Question

I have some PHP scripts which I want to test and I dont have the needed time to upload them on a server each time to test them. I want to know how can I test my scripts offline, on my desktop/laptop itself. I also want to test the mysql etc.

Please do provide with some solid solution and if you dont have a good answer to this, just dont say anything.

Regards

I really appreciate your answers folks. If possible, try to elaborate a little on your answers and give some steps/procedures to get the work done easily. And some links to the resources also.

Answer 1

You need an HTTP server running. Either Apache or IIS would work. Personally, I prefer IIS, because it allows you to develop and test both PHP and ASP(.Net) applications.

Installation documentation for PHP can be found here:

http://www.php.net/install.windows

Note that it assumes that an HTTP server is already up and running...

Answer 2

Install Apache and php on your PC. Read the documentation of Apache, it's very easy to install and configure.

You will have your own server which can access the php scripts directly as they are created.

There are also php debuggers.

Answer 3

Install Apache Web server on your pc, it's a real server and you can test the files on your computer.

You can set up a virtual host by editing the file httpd.conf in Apache, and the "hosts" file in Windows.
or point your browser to 127.0.0.1 (localhost)

the files you want to test (e.g. your local web site) must be in the folder specified in the DocumentRoot setting of the httpd.conf file

Answer 4

I generally use Apache 2 triad to install all of that software on my computer for testing

http://apache2triad.net/

It sets up a web server/database/languages with a number of default options that people commonly use.