Capture Request state at the time of an exception - php

Question

I have a Slim Framework application with a custom errorHandler, and a small middleware stack. My middleware adds attributes to the Request object which I would like to have access to from my error handler in the event of an exception. For example:
$app->get('/endpoint', function($request $response, $args) {
$myAttribute = $request->getAttribute('myAttribute'); //returns 'myValue'
throw new \Exception(); //any code that throws an error
})->add(function($request, $response, $next) {
$request = $request->withAttribute('myAttribute', 'myValue');
$response = $next($request, $response);
return $response;
});
$app->getContainer['errorHandler'] = function($c) {
return function($request, $response, $exception) {
$myAttribute = $request->getAttribute('myAttribute'); //returns null
return $response;
}
};
The attribute does not exist within the Request object inside the error handler because the cloned Request from inside the route has not been returned after traversing through the middleware stack. Is it possible to access the Request and Response objects as they exist, at the time (in the location) the exception is thrown? I can't explicitly pass them (for example, SlimException) because I'm trying to handle unexpected errors as well.

Answer 1

I've created two, somewhat hacky, solutions to capturing Request and Response state when exceptions are thrown. Both attempt to insert a try/catch as close to the center of the middleware stack as possible (without repeating code), and involve wrapping the original exception in a new exception class together with the modified endpoint parameters.
Middleware
This works as long as attention is paid to the order that middleware is added. Unfortunately it does require the innermost middleware is added to each route, or at the very least, "before" the middleware modifying the Request and/or Response objects. This won't catch any changes to Request/Response made inside, nor after the route.
class WrappedException extends \Exception {
public $exception;
public $request;
public $response;
public function __construct($exception, $request, $response) {
$this->exception = $exception;
$this->request = $request;
$this->response = $response;
}
}
$app->get('/endpoint', function($request $response, $args) {
throw new \Exception(); //any code that throws an error
})->add(function($request, $response, $next) {
try {
$response = $next($request, $response);
} catch (\Exception $exception) {
throw new WrappedException($exception, $request, $response);
}
return $response;
});
$app->add(function($request, $response, $next) {
$request = $request->withAttribute('myAttribute', 'myValue');
$response = $next($request, $response);
return $response;
});
$app->getContainer['errorHandler'] = function($c) {
return function($request, $response, $exception) {
if ($exception instanceof WrappedException) {
//returns 'myValue'
$myAttribute = $exception->request->getAttribute('myAttribute');
}
return $response;
}
};
Route Class
This wraps all routes in a try block, and makes for a bit cleaner route code, but you must be sure to extend all routes from the RouteBase class.
class WrappedException extends \Exception {
public $exception;
public $request;
public $response;
public function __construct($exception, $request = null, $response = null) {
$this->exception = $exception;
$this->request = $request;
$this->response = $response;
}
}
class RouteBase {
public function __call($method, $arguments) {
if (method_exists($this, $method)) {
try {
$this::$method(...$arguments);
} catch (\Exception $e) {
throw new WrappedException($e, ...$arguments);
}
} else {
throw new \Exception('Route method not found.');
}
}
}
class RouteClass extends RouteBase {
//PROTECTED -- must be callable by parent class, but not outside class
protected function get(Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
throw new \Exception('A new exception!');
$response->write('hey');
return $response;
}
}
$app->get('/endpoint', 'RouteClass:get');
$app->add(function($request, $response, $next) {
$request = $request->withAttribute('myAttribute', 'myValue');
$response = $next($request, $response);
return $response;
});
$app->getContainer['errorHandler'] = function($c) {
return function($request, $response, $exception) {
if ($exception instanceof WrappedException) {
//returns 'myValue'
$myAttribute = $exception->request->getAttribute('myAttribute');
}
return $response;
}
};

Answer 2

Upgrade to Slim 4 (if you can)
Worth noting now that Slim 4 fixes this issue. Personally, it was kind of a pain to upgrade as a lot changed, especially with the Dependency Injection containers (I went from Slim v3.12 => 4.8).
In Slim 4 they moved both the routing and the error handling into (separate) middlewares.