How to Turn on Error Reporting in PrestaShop 1.5

When developing your store, there may be times when you run into problems and need to see the error messages. By default, error reporting is turned off. This prevents error messages from being displayed in the browser. Enabling the error reporting will allow the message to display in the browser to give you an idea of there the problem may lie. This is a very handy tool when debugging or troubleshooting any odd store behavior. Turning on error reporting in PrestaShop 1.5 is fairly simple and is described below.

Enabling error reporting in PrestaShop 1.5

  1. Log into your hosting admin dashboard, control panel, SSH, or FTP client.
  2. Navigate to the PrestaShop 1.5 root folder.
  3. From there, navigate to the location: /config/
  4. Open the config.inc.php file in your preferred text editor.
  5. Find the line of code that reads “@ini_set(‘display_errors’, ‘off’)“  This is line 39 by default as of PrestaShop 1.5.6
  6. Change it to read “@ini_set(‘display_errors’, ‘on’)
  7. Save the config.inc.php file back to the path, overwriting the existing file if needed.

NOTE: Be sure to turn it back off once you do not need it, this is for troubleshooting only!

0 thoughts on “How to Turn on Error Reporting in PrestaShop 1.5

  1. i try this thing.that change the code in define file and save it.but when again i visit the checkout option then same 500 error coming.kindly guide me where i have change the code.

    1. 500 errors are server side errors and typically generic. Turning on the error logging will likely not be beneficial in this instance.

    1. Hello Garry,

      Have you followed the instructions above to enable the error reporting? What error are you getting?

      Kindest Regards,
      Scott M

  2. am using prestashop 1.5 and having been using the back office for some time now and there was no problem all of a sudden when i upload a new payment module i downloaded online, it started given me errors when opening the module page at the back office, so now i cant access my module page on my back office……. it says

    [PrestaShop] Fatal error in module widget:
    Call to undefined function add_action()

    and gives me a url page

    index.php?controller=AdminModules&token=ade34b9297fb4614d71a99c8efd3c016

    Please any help with what i have to do to solve this?

    1. Hello,

      The php error you received means that the program is looking for a function that somehow does not exist. Without having access to the module list, it is impossible to delete the offending module from within the back office.

      If you are CERTAIN of which module is causing the error, you may want to remove it from the database. I have a list of scripts below that will do that, however it will completely remove the module from the database and it will no longer show in the list of modules once you gain access to that area.

      First, you need the module ID from the database. To find that you need to access your phpMyAdmin and look in the ps_module table. Find the name of the module and look at the column id_module. The number there is the module id to be used in place of the # below. Run each statement individually. I got an error on the one running against the ps_module_exceptions table, but there were no rows in that table. You can also delete the rows manually from within the phpMyAdmin interface (under the Browse feature, then click the delete button on the relevant row) if you choose. Just be sure to look through all the tables listed to remove any reference to the module.

      DELETE from ps_module WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_access WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_country WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_currency WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_group WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_preference WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_module_shop WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_hook_module WHERE id_module = #;
      DELETE from ps_hook_module_exceptions WHERE id_module = #;

      Keep in mind this will completely remove the module from PrestaShop so you will not be able to activate it again. This is an extreme measure but the only answer I currently have to remove a module from PrestaShop manually. Please do not do this unless you are certain that it is that module causing the error and you do not want to try and use it again.

      Kindest Regards,
      Scott M

    1. Hello Fernando,

      That was changed at some point in the lifespan of PrestaShop 1.5. While it used to be located in the config.inc.php, it is now in the defines.inc.php file.

      Kindest Regards,
      Scott M

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