PHP exception handling on DateTime object - php

Question

Does anybody know why this function, when passed an invalid date (e.g. timestamp) to it, still throws an error despite the try-catch?
function getAge($date){
try {
$dobObject = new DateTime($date);
$nowObject = new DateTime();
$diff = $dobObject->diff($nowObject);
}
catch (Exception $e) {
echo 'Error: ', $e->getMessage();
}
return $diff->y;
}
Error:
Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'DateTime::_construct() [datetime.--construct]: Failed to parse time string (422926860) at position 7 (6): Unexpected character' in ... .php:4 Stack trace: #0 ... .php(4): DateTime->_construct('422926860') #1 ... .php(424): getAge('422926860') #2 {main} thrown in/... .php on line 4
Thank you very much in advance!

Answer 1

Chris, you cannot catch fatal errors, at very least you shouldn't.
Quoting keparo:
PHP won't provide you with any conventional means for catching fatal errors because they really shouldn't be caught. That is to say, you should not attempt to recover from a fatal error. String matching an output buffer is definitely ill-advised.
If you simply have no other way, take a look at this post for more info and possible how-tos.
Try this:
function isDateValid($str) {
if (!is_string($str)) {
return false;
}
$stamp = strtotime($str);
if (!is_numeric($stamp)) {
return false;
}
if ( checkdate(date('m', $stamp), date('d', $stamp), date('Y', $stamp)) ) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
And then :
if isDateValid( $yourString ) {
$date = new DateTime($yourString);
}