php symfony exception handling/error handling - php

Working on a symfony application that uses nusoap (is this the best method for integrating soap work with php/symfony?) for taking credit card payments.
I've simplified an example of my code below.
What I'm struggling with is the best way to handle exceptions. The example below only has 1 custom exception (where should my custom exceptions reside within the directory structure of symfony? (lib/exception?)) But what happens when there are several different types of exceptions that handle a specific error? It's not very elegant to have a try/catch block with 20 odd exceptions.
I'm also not sure of where I should be throwing and catching. I need to set some user flashes to alert the user of any problems, so I figure the catching should be done in the actions controller rather than within the class that handles the soap call.
Could anyone please advise where I might be going wrong?
I hate messy code/solutions and want to stick to the DRY principle as much as possible. I think I might also be missing some built in symfony functionality that might help with this but whenever I search I usually find examples that are for symfony 1.2, I'm using 1.4.
Some examples would be great, thanks.
lib/soap_payment.class.php
class SoapPayment
{
public function charge()
{
/*assume options are setup correctly for sake of example*/
try
{
$this->call();
}
catch (SoapPaymentClientFaultException $e)
{
/* should this be caught here? */
}
}
private function call()
{
$this->client->call($this->options);
if ($this->client->hasFault())
{
throw new SoapPaymentClientFaultException();
}
}
}
apps/frontend/payment/actions/actions.class.php
class paymentActions extends sfActions
{
public function executeCreate(sfWebRequest $request)
{
/* check form is valid etc */
$soap_payment = new SoapPayment();
try
{
$soap_payment->charge();
}
catch (SoapPaymentClientFaultException $e)
{
/* or throw/catch here? */
$this->getUser()->setFlash('error', ...);
$this->getLogger()->err(...);
}
/* save form regardless, will set a flag to check if successful or not in try/catch block */
}
}

One not very well known feature of Symfony is that exceptions can manage the content sent in a response. So you could do something like this:
class SoapException extends sfException
{
public function printStackTrace() //called by sfFrontWebController when an sfException is thrown
{
$response = sfContext::getInstance()->getResponse();
if (null === $response)
{
$response = new sfWebResponse(sfContext::getInstance()->getEventDispatcher());
sfContext::getInstance()->setResponse($response);
}
$response->setStatusCode(5xx);
$response->setContent('oh noes'); //probably you want a whole template here that prints the message that was a part of the SoapException
}
}
If you need a cleaner handling of SOAP exceptions, like setting flashes, etc. you'll probably have to catch each exception. One idea here might be to create a generic SoapException class that is extended by more specific SoapExceptions so you don't have to catch a bunch of different types. The above code may be a useful fallback mechanism as well.
Finally, yes, you should place custom exceptions in lib/exception.

Related

In PHP is there a way I can avoid repeating the same try / catch code in multiple methods of a class?

I've been searching for an existing question that already asks this, but I wasn't able to find any questions that quite ask what I'm trying to figure out. The most similar question I could find was this: php 5.3 avoid try/catch duplication nested within foreach loop (code sandwich)
Okay so the place I work at has a web application with a PHP back end. We use an MVC type structure. I'm writing a controller that has multiple methods and in each of my methods I'm wrapping my code with identical try / catch code. In the catch, I pass the exception, a reference to the class, and a reference to the function to a method that builds an error message so that the error messages are formatted the same across the application. It looks something this:
class MyController {
public function methodA() {
try {
// code for methodA
} catch(Exception $e) {
$errorMessage = Tasks::buildErrorMessage($e, __CLASS__, __FUNCTION__);
throw new Exception($errorMessage);
}
}
public function methodB() {
try {
// code for methodB
} catch(Exception $e) {
$errorMessage = Tasks::buildErrorMessage($e, __CLASS__, __FUNCTION__);
throw new Exception($errorMessage);
}
}
public function methodC() {
try {
// code for methodC
} catch(Exception $e) {
$errorMessage = Tasks::buildErrorMessage($e, __CLASS__, __FUNCTION__);
throw new Exception($errorMessage);
}
}
}
So the buildErrorMessage function prevents each method from repeating the code that formats the error message, but there is something that really bothers me about have the same code spread through out every method in the class. I know that PHP doesn't support python-like decorator syntax, but just to demonstrate what I'm envisioning conceptually; I want the code to behave something more like this:
class MyController {
#DefaultErrorHandling()
public function methodA() {
// code for methodB
}
#DefaultErrorHandling()
public function methodB() {
// code for methodB
}
#DefaultErrorHandling()
public function methodC() {
// code for methodC
}
}
Where the #DefaultErrorHandling decorator would wrap each method in that standard try / catch. Is there a way I could achieve this behavior so I don't have to have all of these methods that have repeated code? Or am I thinking about error handling incorrectly?
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer this.
Have you looked at a writing a custom exception handler and using set_exception_handler?
What you are doing seems a bit like reinventing the wheel. Does the Exception not already have the info you are collecting in the trace? See: Exception::getTrace
Maybe buildErrorMessage does more? Anyway, I assume a custom exception handler is what you are after.
Not sure if there is a better way to solve this or not, but I created a logging class that formatted the log for me. Then just called this in my catch block.
To log the correct Class and Method, I the debug_backtrace() function. See this answer for more information.
Entry point that calls controller methods can wrap those calls with try / catch. That being said, if you are planning to use different type of error handlers on those methods then you can implement something in your base controller (or use trait) that keeps track of which handler should be invoked on each particular method. Something like
<?php
class MyController extends Controller
{
function __construct()
{
$this->setActionErrorHandler('function_name', 'handler');
}
}
Or just call it at the beginning of action method body. Keeping this type of configuration within class itself will help with readability. Not as neat as python example but better than somewhere in configuration files.
More generic error handlers can be implemented in php by using set_exception_handler mentioned by others.
I'm not really getting why there is such a requirement.

Laravel model related logs

I develop a pretty big web application using laravel. Logging to a single file or daily files seems too messy for me.
My purpose is to create error logs which will be categorised and easy for retrieval to show on front-end for tech support. E.g. user entered wrong api-key, email, whatever.
P.S. Users don't always understand meaning of the error showed so they contact tech support.
Example for better understanding:
Suppose I have model relations: User->hasMany->Project and in some
project appears an exception I want it to be written and related to
the project. e.t.c. So I could do something like $some_project_model->logs()->get() and tech support got all logs related to
certain project.
What I have in my mind is separate table for logs which is related to certain Eloquent models. But to do so ExceptionHandler needs to know to which model an Exception is related to.
So how this can be implemented? Maybe I could assign custom ExceptionHandler to certain class?
Thank you for any suggestions.
So I've actually found a proper solution:
First of all it's needed to create Log table with polymorphic relation. Then to catch all the exceptions in certain context __call magic method can be used. __call method allows to wrap every object method call with custom code. Try-catch in this case.
Example:
class Loggable
{
public function __call($method, $arguments)
{
try {
return call_user_func_array([$this->certain_obj, $method], $arguments);
} catch (Exception $e) {
//creating new $log orm
$this->get_orm()->loggable()->save($log);
}
}
protected function do_something() {
//something is going on
throw new \Exception();
}
}
$loggable_obj = new Loggable();
$loggable_obj->do_something();
To make it work, you must make all loggable methods private or protected.
In case if you think that 'encapsulation' is not just another difficult word you can achieve the same result using proxy class.
Example:
class Proxy
{
private $some_obj;
public function __construct($some_obj)
{
$this->some_obj = $some_obj;
}
public function __call($method, $arguments)
{
try {
return call_user_func_array([$this->some_obj, $method], $arguments);
} catch (Exception $e) {
//creating new $log orm
$this->some_obj->get_orm()->loggable()->save($log);
}
}
}
$proxy = new Proxy($some_obj);
$proxy->whatever_method($foo, $bar);
So, in both cases I can get all logs related to some exact orm by calling ->logs()->get() on it.
Not a rocket science at all.
One approach might be to create your own custom exception (sub)class which you could add model and/or project information to at the point of throwing the exception. Then this information would be available in the ExceptionHandler.
You wouldn't have it for built in or third-party exception types though. For those you'd end up having to catch and rethrow where possible (and necessary), wrapping in your custom exception class, which probably isn't ideal.

Disable Laravel's built-in error handling methods

Is there anyway to disable the Laravel error handler all together?
I want to simply display standard PHP errors, not the Whoops, looks like something went wrong errors.
Not without majorly violating the principles of the framework (which I'll tell you how to do below, if you're still interested).
There's a few things that make this difficult to accomplish. It's easy enough to unset the default error and exception handlers
set_error_handler(null);
set_exception_handler(null);
but that leaves you with two major hurdles.
The first is Laravel registers a shutdown handler as part of its bootstrapping, and this shutdown function will look for the last error, and if it was a fatal error, manually call the exception handling code. There's no easy way to un-register a shutdown function.
The second is, the main Laravel Application handler looks like this
#File: vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Application.php
public function handle(SymfonyRequest $request, $type = HttpKernelInterface::MASTER_REQUEST, $catch = true)
{
try
{
$this->refreshRequest($request = Request::createFromBase($request));
$this->boot();
return $this->dispatch($request);
}
catch (\Exception $e)
{
if ($this->runningUnitTests()) throw $e;
return $this['exception']->handleException($e);
}
}
That is -- if you application code throws an exception, Laravel catches it here and manually calls the exception's handleException method (which triggers the standard Laravel exception handling). There's no way to let PHP handle a fatal exception that happens in your application, Laravel blocks that from ever happening.
The part where I tell you how to do what you want
All this means we need to replace the main Laravel application with our own. In bootstrap/start.php, there's the following line
#File: bootstrap/start.php
$app = new Illuminate\Foundation\Application;
Replace it with the following
ini_set('display_errors','1');
class MyApplication extends Illuminate\Foundation\Application
{
function startExceptionHandling()
{
//do nothing
}
public function handle(Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request $request, $type = HttpKernelInterface::MASTER_REQUEST, $catch = true)
{
$this->refreshRequest($request = Request::createFromBase($request));
$this->boot();
return $this->dispatch($request);
}
}
$app = new MyApplication;
The first thing we're doing is setting PHP's display errors ini to 1. This makes sure errors are output to the browser.
Next, we're defining a new application class that extends the real application class.
Finally, we replace the real Laravel $app object with an object instantiated by our class.
In our application class itself we blank out startExceptionHandling. This prevents Laravel from setting up custom exception, error, and shutdown callbacks. We also define handle to remove the application boot/dispatch from a try/catch. This is the most fragile part of the process, and may look different depending on your Laravel version.
Final Warnings
If the handle method changes in future version of Laravel this will break.
If custom packages rely on adding custom exception handlers, they may break.
I'd recommend staying away from this as anything other than a temporary debugging technique.
Then set 'debug' => false, in \config\local\app.php file
<?php
return array(
'debug' => false,
);
In laravel 5 to disable debug, you just need to comment
//'debug' => env('APP_DEBUG'),
in \config\app.php file
Exception handling is hardcoded into the Application class. You can override the classes in your bootstrap/start.php file:
class ExceptionHandler {
public function handleException($exception) {
throw $exception;
}
public function handleConsole($exception) {
throw $exception;
}
}
class MyApplication extends Illuminate\Foundation\Application
{
public function registerExceptionProvider() {}
public function startExceptionHandling() {}
}
$app = new MyApplication;
It should go without saying that this is definitely not encouraged.
In file .env, just change:
APP_DEBUG=true
To:
APP_DEBUG=false
Related to the question: Laravel has a built in method for disabling exceptions in unit tests:
$this->withoutExceptionHandling()
Laracast on the subject: https://laracasts.com/series/whats-new-in-laravel-5-5/episodes/17
This will get you close. There might be a more proper way of doing this. It replaces Laravel's current exception handler with a single-method class. I haven't tested this, besides the basic route below, so you may need to add other methods to satisfy different situations.
class ExceptionHandler
{
public function handleException($e)
{
echo $e;
die;
}
}
App::bind('exception', App::share(function($app)
{
return new ExceptionHandler;
}));
Route::get('/', function()
{
throw new Exception('Testing');
});

Handling errors/exceptions in MVC

As well as many other, I'm trying to create my own MVC to improve my knowledge etc. :)
I'd like to ask about handling errors/exceptions in MVC pattern.
Dispatcher is getting information from Router about Route and getting Controller's and method's name from Route. Then dispatcher is trying to create instance of this Controller and execute this method.
Now let's imagine that our method is throwing exception (yes, it is not catched in method because of bad code :)). It could be custom made exception like NotFoundException or ApplicationInternalErrorException or one of SPL excpetions like RuntimeErrorException or InvalidArgumentException. It doesn't matter, really.
Of course, we want Dispatcher catch this exception, log it and respond accordingly exception type: display 404 page if NotFoundException was catched etc.
What is the best practice for doing it? Is Dispatcher a right place for doing it? Maybe the best place is FrontController (but I'm not using this pattern; Dispatcher is creating Controller instance.
Simple code:
class Dispatcher {
public function dispatch() {
$controller = $this->getRouter()->getController();
$method = $this->getRouter()->getMethod();
$args = $this->getRouter()->getArguments();
try {
call_user_func_array(array($controller, $method), array_values($args));
} catch (Exception $e) {
Logger::log($e->__toString);
if ($e instanceof NotFoundPage) {
call_user_func(array('ErrorController', 'notFound'))
} elseif ($e instanceof ...) {
...
} elseif ($e instanceof ...) {
...
} else {
...
}
}
}
}
Is it ok, or it is not a very good practice?
Thank you.
I'm simply using an external file (xml, yaml or anything you like) which contains all the routes for my web application. When a request comes the Router tries to match the request url to one of the routes I have in my file. If there were no match it simply redirects to the 404 page with a 404 header. I think that you don't need try/catch blocks for this.
I took the idea from Symfony.

Rethrowing exceptions under different names? What's the standard practice?

currently I have this client code in my PHP MVC web app:
try {
BookMapper::insert($book);
} catch (DbUniqueConstraintViolationException $e) {
$errorList->addMessage($book . " already exists!");
}
I'm wondering is it bad practice to refer to the low-level framework Db* exceptions to my client code? If so, should I adjust my model code like so:
class BookAlreadyExistsException extends Exception { }
class BookMapper {
public static function insert($book) {
try {
// call to DB-layer to insert $book
// (not relevant to the question)
} catch (DbUniqueConstraintViolationException $e) {
throw new BookAlreadyExistsException();
}
}
}
and then use this new client-code...
try {
BookMapper::insert($book);
} catch (BookAlreadyExistsException $e) {
$errorList->addMessage($book . " already exists!");
}
Or something else? Or is the original method fine?
Thanks!
EDIT: Just want to add, the latter method reads the best IMO, but it comes with the object creation / rethrowing overhead and more significantly, it requires duplicating the rethrowing code in every mapper's insert() method. The former method is easy to implement and catch and works for any model but I remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't do it this way?
I think you should definitly throw your own exception.
But I would also consider a third option and that is letting the insert method return true for success and false for failure. Exceptions should be used for exceptions and the fact that a book already exists might actually be an expected/predictable case.
And if duplicate books are truly excetions that should not be possible (unless for programming errors), then you could as well stick with the database exception but in that case don't catch it. Let it bubble all the way up.
I highly recommend this article. Although it is written for Java, the principles are quite applicable to PHP as well. It has good guidelines for what types of exceptions you should be throwing and catching.

Categories