all purpose try/catch block method - php

Question

In the PHP project I'm working on there are several methods that make use of individual try/catch blocks. Here is one example:
public function getListData()
{
$clauses['filter'] = '';
$clauses['sort'] = 'CAST(propertyID AS INT) DESC';
try
{
return $this->getModel()->getListData($clauses);
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
// create an Error() object, send $e->getMessage() to it
}
}
Now, keeping in mind there are several similar methods, it would seem more efficient to write a method in the Model class that would look like this:
public function run($method)
{
try
{
return $this->$method;
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
//create an Error() object, send $e->getMessage() to it
}
}
The problem is calling it. This does not work:
public function getListData()
{
return $this->getModel()->run('getListData($clauses)');
}
The error is:
Undefined property:
classes\utility\Model::$getListData($clauses).
Is there a way to get this to work?

Answer 1

I'm going to assume that the first and second getListData() methods are in separate classes, otherwise you are calling a loop, since getListData would call getListData...which would call, you get it.
However, the way you are calling the method is incorrect in the run() method. It should be called using call_user_func. It is a callback to the method, not a call to the property, of the class.
You could call it statically using
public function run($method, $data)
{
try
{
return call_user_func(array($this, $method), $data);
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
//create an Error() object, send $e->getMessage() to it
}
}
public function getListData()
{
return $this->getModel()->run('getListData', $clauses);
}

Answer 2

There are several problems with this approach:
It prevents you from listening for custom exceptions
You can throw exceptions other than Exception, but this type of wrapper will make it much more difficult to do so.
It is difficult to follow the execution flow
When you pass method names and parameters around as strings, it becomes much harder for humans, IDEs and code analysis tools to understand what the program will do at runtime.
Try/catch blocks are cheap
The code required to catch exceptions is very simple and easy to use. This wrapper adds more complexity and more cost (an extra function call).
Consider just using try/catch blocks where needed instead of using the wrapper. If you have fifty similar methods as described in your comment above, you may gain more efficiency by eliminating the duplicate business logic and combining those methods.

Answer 3

You could simply convert errors to exceptions using this code:
set_error_handler(function ($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline)
{
if ((error_reporting() & $errno) === $errno)
throw new \Exception("$errstr ($errfile: $errline)", (int) $errno);
}, -1);
After it any error would be converted to exception.