Is try catch block necessary inside controller in laravel? - php

Question

I'm currently working on a project with my friend. He follows this method of writing codes. Is it good or bad? I'm also not that much experience developer.
public function store(Request $request)
{
try
{
$comment = new TicketComment();
$comment->content = $request['comment'];
$comment->user_id = Auth::user()->id;
$comment->ticket_id = $request['ticketId'];
$comment->save();
$ticket = Ticket::where('id', '=', $comment->ticket_id)->first();
$ticket->updated_at = $comment->created_at;
$ticket->update();
}
catch(Exception $e)
{
request()->session()->flash('unsuccessMessage', 'Failed to add comment !!!');
return redirect()->back();
}
request()->session()->flash('successMessage', 'Comment has been successfully added !!!');
return redirect()->back();
}

Answer 1

Don't have a broad Exception catch block. Only catch exceptions you expect to be thrown in that block that way you can properly log unexpected exceptions and fix any other bugs in your code that may have caused those, instead of hiding them from yourself.
If you must do this then it might be in the context of something like:
public function store(Request $request)
{
try
{
$comment = new TicketComment();
$comment->content = $request['comment'];
$comment->user_id = Auth::user()->id;
$comment->ticket_id = $request['ticketId'];
$comment->save();
$ticket = Ticket::where('id', '=', $comment->ticket_id)->first();
$ticket->updated_at = $comment->created_at;
$ticket->update();
}
catch(Exception $e)
{
if (!($e instanceof SQLException)) {
app()->make(\App\Exceptions\Handler::class)->report($e); // Report the exception if you don't know what actually caused it
}
request()->session()->flash('unsuccessMessage', 'Failed to add comment !!!');
return redirect()->back();
}
request()->session()->flash('successMessage', 'Comment has been successfully added !!!');
return redirect()->back();
}
This way any unexpected exceptions will still be reported and you can go through your logs later to fix any bugs that are causing them.
As a reminder since PHP 7.1 you can have a union of exceptions in a catch block (Reference) e.g.
try { }
catch (ExceptionType1|ExceptionType2 $e) {
}
This way you can handle the exceptions you know you can handle and let Laravel handle the ones you are not sure how to handle.
Note that you generally don't have to have try-catch blocks in controller code, you can always use the exception handler to do the flash/redirect back combination for all unhandled exceptions if that is your preferred way of handling them.

Answer 2

It is allways good to handle the errors. However, Laravel has built in error handling, which ease this process. This does not mean you dont need the try catch block.
Read more about laravel error handling: https://laravel.com/docs/5.8/errors

Answer 3

Even that laravel has his own built in error handling you better use try & catch.
Don't use it on development mode but on production mode. The use of try & catch is user friendly, which means that user will not see the traditional page with the error generated from laravel (in case of any error), but will see your default message.
Example of how to use it:
public function index()
{
try {
return view('index.blade.php');
} catch (\Exception $exception) {
\Log::error($exception);
return redirect()->back()->with(['message' => 'There was an error']);
}
}
If you see this part \Log::error($exception);, it means that the error generated from laravel will be registered on logs file under storage/logs/laravel.log so you as e developer can see the problem with that method. On the other part if something goes wrong with accessing the page: view('index.blade.php') the user will be redirected back to the previous page with a message saved in session, which is: 'There was an error'.
To catch the message in case of errors in your blade you should:
#if (session('message'))
<div class="container">
<div class="alert alert-danger text-center">{{ session('message') }}</div>
</div>
#endif
Happy coding!

Answer 4

here is how I handled the same. I logged the error instead of returning it to user interface.
public function postData()
{
try
{
//your logics to post goes here
}
catch (\Exception $exception) {
if (!($exception instanceof \SQLiteException)) {
app()->make(\App\Exceptions\Handler::class)->report($exception); // Report the exception if you don't know what actually caused it
}
Alert::toast('Error Toast', 'An error occurred');
\Log::error($exception);
return redirect()->back();
}
Alert::success('SuccessAlert', 'alert');
return back();
}