[ticket/17086] Add Codespaces documentation

PHPBB3-17086

.vscode/launch.json

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     "version": "0.2.0",
     "configurations": [
         {
-            "name": "Listen for Xdebug",
+            "name": "Debug phpBB",
             "type": "php",
             "request": "launch",
             "port": 9003,

README.md

@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ To run an installation from the repo (and not from a pre-built package) on a loc
   php ../composer.phar install
   ```
 
-Alternatively, you can read our [Vagrant documentation](phpBB/docs/vagrant.md) to find out how to use Vagrant to develop and contribute to phpBB.
+Alternatively, you can read:
+
+* Our [Vagrant documentation](phpBB/docs/vagrant.md) to find out how to use Vagrant to develop and contribute to phpBB.
+* Our [GitHub Codespaces documentation](phpBB/docs/codespaces.md) to learn about phpBB's cloud-based development environment.
 
 ## 📓 Documentation
 

phpBB/docs/codespaces.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+## Using GitHub Codespaces with phpBB
+
+phpBB includes support for [Codespaces](https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces), GitHub's cloud-based software development environment. This allows developers and contributors to run and modify phpBB on a consistent environment through a GitHub account without the need to set up a local web server.
+
+Codespaces is completely web-based and does not require any code to be downloaded locally.
+
+Features include:
+
+* Automatic phpBB installation
+* Access to [VS Code](https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/the-githubdev-web-based-editor) through the web browser 
+* [Xdebug](https://github.com/xdebug/vscode-php-debug) pre-configured to step through the phpBB code and add breakpoints
+* Full LAMP stack with database access
+* Commit, push and test code entirely online
+
+## How it works
+
+### To run phpBB in Codespaces
+
+* On the GitHub.com website, fork the `phpbb/phpbb` repository.
+* Under the `Code` button, click the `Codespaces` tab and then the `+` button to create a new Codespace.
+* It may take several minutes to configure and install phpBB on the newly created virtual machine. Once it is ready, a web-based VS Code instance will appear.
+* Under the `Ports` tab, click on the local address under port 80 to open the private website for the new phpBB installation.
+    * By default, the login details for the new phpBB installation are `admin` / `mypassword`
+    * Port 9003 is also open to allow Xdebug connections.
+
+### To use the command line
+
+* Click on the `Terminal` tab at the bottom of VS Code and make sure the `bash` window is selected in the right sidebar.
+* The `workspaces/phpbb` directory contains the code from the workspace.
+* Run `mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u phpbb -p` to log into the MySQL database. The password is `phpbb` and the database name is `phpbb`.
+    * Tip: type `use phpbb;` after logging in to MySQL to switch to the correct database, then queries can be run for the phpBB tables.
+
+### To debug code
+
+* Click the `Run and Debug` tab on the left sidebar in VS Code, then click the green play button next to the `Debug phpBB` option.
+    * Tip: to confirm that Xdebug is working correctly, run `lsof -i :9003` on the command line. It should show that the port is listening for connections.
+* In any of the files in the `phpBB/` directory, add a breakpoint by clicking just to the left of a line number in VS Code. Then, access the private website created on port 80 (found under the VS Code `Ports` tab) through the web browser and navigate to the page with a breakpoint. VS Code will automatically pause execution where the breakpoint is hit, and under the `Run and Debug` tab a variable list will be shown.
+
+### To commit and push code
+
+* To save a change made using VS Code on Codespaces, click the `Source Control` tab on the left sidebar in VS Code.
+* To stage changes or discard changes, right click the file(s) and select the appropriate option.
+* Type a commit message and select the `Commit and Push` option.
+
+**Remember to stop a Codespace once you are finished with it.** GitHub provides all users with a limited number of free core hours per month. A Codespace can be stopped (or deleted) from the main repository page on GitHub.com.
+
+## Technical information
+
+All of the Codespaces configuration can be found in the `.devcontainer/` directory. The `devcontainer.json` holds the general environment information and `Dockerfile` contains the commands to set up the LAMP stack which enables phpBB to run.
+
+`setup.sh` is used to install phpBB from the command line, using pre-determined details from `phpbb-config.yml`.
+
+Codespaces can run without the configuration inside the `.vscode/` directory, however by including this no manual intervention is required to set the Xdebug IDE code to `VSCode` (inside `settings.json`) and  `Debug phpBB` information, such as the path mapping from the Apache webroot to the `phpbb/phpBB` directory (inside `launch.json`).
+
+This configuration information can be safely modified to change the development environment, followed by `Ctrl+Shift+P` in VS Code and selection of the `Full Rebuild Container` option.