What are some recommended approaches for testing and debugging PHP scripts that involve form submissions and email sending functionalities?

When testing and debugging PHP scripts that involve form submissions and email sending functionalities, it is recommended to use a combination of manual testing, automated testing, and logging to ensure the functionality works as expected. Additionally, using tools like Xdebug for debugging and PHPMailer for sending emails can help streamline the process.

// Example PHP code snippet for testing and debugging form submissions and email sending

// Sample code for form submission handling
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    // Process form data
    $name = $_POST["name"];
    $email = $_POST["email"];
    
    // Validate form data
    if (empty($name) || empty($email)) {
        echo "Please fill in all fields";
    } else {
        // Send email using PHPMailer
        require 'vendor/autoload.php'; // Include PHPMailer autoload file
        $mail = new PHPMailer(true);
        
        try {
            // Server settings
            $mail->isSMTP();
            $mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
            $mail->SMTPAuth = true;
            $mail->Username = 'your@example.com';
            $mail->Password = 'your_password';
            $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
            $mail->Port = 587;
            
            // Recipient
            $mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
            $mail->addAddress($email, $name);
            
            // Content
            $mail->isHTML(true);
            $mail->Subject = 'Subject';
            $mail->Body = 'Email body content';
            
            $mail->send();
            echo 'Email sent successfully';
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            echo "Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
        }
    }
}