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How to set up a test board for modding

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This article was written primarily for MOD writers interested in ways to optimise testing. Everyone has their own style of testing which works for them, and this is only one such style.
A good way to test MODs is by using a local setup. A local setup is an installation on your own computer or network, as opposed to a remote setup which would typically be your website (as it is hosted by another company in a “remote” location). This means that less time is spent uploading and downloading through FTP as any changes you make take effect almost instantly. An added benefit is you can continue developing and testing your modifications when you are without an internet connection.
There are many types of software which will allow you to create a local setup, such as XAMPP and EasyPHP. What these programs do is install PHP, a database like MySQL and Apache in their own sandbox which only runs when you start the program. For the purposes of this article, I will look at EasyPHP.
Installation instructions can be found at http://www.easyphp.org. Once EasyPHP is installed, in Windows Explorer navigate to the local web server directory. In the case of EasyPHP v2.0b (and depending on how you configured the software during installation) then it might be C:\Program Files\EasyPHP 2.0b1\www
Now that EasyPHP is set up, a quick way to install phpBB3 is to use phpBB QuickInstall (by tumba25 and evil