When developing android app that sends requests to a web service written in PHP, we need to configure XDebug and Netbeans to break when an external request(from an Android app, for example) is sent.
Modify php.ini:
xdebug.remote_autostart = 1
xdebug.idekey=”netbeans-xdebug”
In Netbeans, debug a random file, click continue when it breaks at initial breakpoint.
Run the Android app, Netbeans will break when the app sends a request to the php page.