LimeSurvey Dev Container

This repository provides a fully-configured, containerized development environment for LimeSurvey using VS Code Dev Containers, Docker Compose, and PostgreSQL.

It supports backend and frontend development, unit and functional testing (PHPUnit + Selenium), Xdebug, and includes several helper scripts and tasks.

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🚀 Quick Start

Requirements

• Docker
• Visual Studio Code
• Dev Containers Extension

Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Open it in VS Code
3. When prompted, click “Reopen in Container”
4. Wait for the build and setup to complete

Visit: http://localhost:8080/admin
Use credentials:
Username: admin
Password: password

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🧪 Testing

Run all PHPUnit functional tests

./.devcontainer/scripts/php-unit-tests.sh

Or via VS Code task:

Ctrl+Shift+P → Tasks: Run Task → LimeSurvey: Run functional tests

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🧼 Clear Cache

Clear LimeSurvey’s runtime cache and restart services:

./.devcontainer/scripts/clear-cache.sh

Also available as a VS Code task:
LimeSurvey: Clear cache and restart services

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🔄 Full Environment Reset

Reset the dev container, volumes, DB, and reinstall everything:

./.devcontainer/scripts/reset-dev.sh

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🧰 Helper Scripts

Script	Purpose
setup.sh	Runs at container init, installs LS
clear-cache.sh	Clears cache + restarts nginx/php-fpm
php-unit-tests.sh	Runs PHPUnit tests
reset-dev.sh	Full environment reset

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⚙️ Services

Defined in docker-compose.yml:

• app: PHP 8.1 + Nginx + Composer + Xdebug + Supervisor
• db: PostgreSQL 14 with persistent volume
• selenium: Optional Firefox driver for browser testing

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⚙️ Configuration Overview

• PHP Config: .devcontainer/php.ini
• Xdebug: .devcontainer/xdebug.ini
• Nginx Site: .devcontainer/default.conf
• Supervisor: .devcontainer/supervisord.conf

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🐞 Debugging

Xdebug Support

• Port: 9003
• Automatically connects on request
• Configured via .vscode/launch.json

To debug:

1. Set breakpoints
2. Run Listen for Xdebug in VS Code debugger
3. Trigger a request via browser or terminal

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🧠 VS Code Settings & Tasks

• Editor: auto formats on save
• Excluded folders: vendor, node_modules
• Tasks: run tests, clear cache, restart services
• Debug: works with Xdebug out-of-the-box

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📁 Folder Structure

.
├── .devcontainer/
│   ├── devcontainer.json
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── supervisord.conf
│   ├── php
│       ├── php.ini
│       └── xdebug.ini
│   ├── nginx
│       └── default.conf
│   └── scripts/
│       ├── setup.sh
│       ├── clear-cache.sh
│       ├── php-unit-tests.sh
│       └── reset-dev.sh
├── .vscode/
│   ├── launch.json
│   ├── settings.json
│   └── tasks.json
├── .env
├── workspace.code-workspace
└── limesurvey/            # Source code from LimeSurvey repo

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🧹 Tips

• PostgreSQL and Composer cache are mounted volumes — deleted during full reset
• Xdebug log (if enabled): /tmp/xdebug.log inside the container
• supervisorctl restart all restarts services without rebuilding

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🙌 Contributors

• Initial setup: HaroWana