I use Netbeans with XDebug and the Easy XDebug FireFox Add-on
The add-on is essential when you debug MVC projects, because the normal way XDebug runs in Netbeans is to register the dbug session via the url. With the add-on installed in FireFox, you would set your Netbeans project properties -> Run Configuratuion -> Advanced and select "Do Not Open Web Browser" You can now set your break points and start the debugging session with Ctrl-F5 as usual. Open FireFox and right-click the Add-on icon in the right bottom corner to start monitoring for breakpoints. When the code reaches the breakpoint it will stop and you can inspect your variable states and call-stack.
