Maybe I'm missing it somewhere in the PHP manual, but what exactly is the difference between an error and an exception? The only difference that I can see is that errors and exceptions are handled differently. But what causes an exception and what causes an error?
+2
A:
Exceptions are thrown intentionally by code using a throw, errors... not so much.
Errors come about as a result of something which isn't handled typically. (IO errors, TCP/IP errors, null reference errors)
altCognito
2009-05-08 19:52:23
+9
A:
Exceptions are thrown - they are intended to be caught. Errors are generally unrecoverable. Lets say for instance - you have a block of code that will insert a row into a database. It is possible that this call fails (duplicate ID) - you will want to have a "Error" which in this case is an "Exception". When you are inserting these rows, you can do something like this
try {
$row->insert();
$inserted = true;
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo "There was an error inserting the row - ".$e->getMessage();
$inserted = false;
}
echo "Some more stuff";
Program execution will continue - because you 'caught' the exception. An exception will be treated as an error unless it is caught. It will allow you to continue program execution after it fails as well.
gnarf
2009-05-08 19:58:14
+3
A:
One thing to add here is about handling exceptions and errors. For the purpose of the application developer, both errors and exceptions are "bad things" that you want to record to learn about the problems that your application has - so that your customers have a better experience in the long run.
So it makes sense to write an error handler that does the same thing as what you do for exceptions - writes a report to a database, emails the admin, etc. In that regard, take a look at http://www.markslade.name/Articles.html?a=11 (making PHP handler errors like exceptions).
Alex
2009-05-09 00:12:04
Thanks for providing the link!
letseatfood
2010-05-27 22:35:12
+5
A:
I usually set_error_handler to a function that takes the error and throws an exception so that whatever happens i'll just have exceptions to deal with. No more @file_get_contents just nice and neat try/catch.
In debug situations i also have an exception handler that outputs an asp.net like page. I'm posting this on the road but if requested I will post example source later.
edit:
Addition as promised, I've cut and pasted some of my code together to make a sample. I've saved the below to file on my workstation, you can see the results here.
<?php
define( 'DEBUG', true );
class ErrorOrWarningException extends Exception
{
protected $_Context = null;
public function getContext()
{
return $this->_Context;
}
public function setContext( $value )
{
$this->_Context = $value;
}
public function __construct( $code, $message, $file, $line, $context )
{
parent::__construct( $message, $code );
$this->file = $file;
$this->line = $line;
$this->setContext( $context );
}
}
/**
* Inspire to write perfect code. everything is an exception, even minor warnings.
**/
function error_to_exception( $code, $message, $file, $line, $context )
{
throw new ErrorOrWarningException( $code, $message, $file, $line, $context );
}
set_error_handler( 'error_to_exception' );
function global_exception_handler( $ex )
{
ob_start();
dump_exception( $ex );
$dump = ob_get_clean();
// send email of dump to administrator?...
// if we are in debug mode we are allowed to dump exceptions to the browser.
if ( defined( 'DEBUG' ) && DEBUG == true )
{
echo $dump;
}
else // if we are in production we give our visitor a nice message without all the details.
{
echo file_get_contents( 'static/errors/fatalexception.html' );
}
exit;
}
function dump_exception( Exception $ex )
{
$file = $ex->getFile();
$line = $ex->getLine();
if ( file_exists( $file ) )
{
$lines = file( $file );
}
?><html>
<head>
<title><?= $ex->getMessage(); ?></title>
<style type="text/css">
body {
width : 800px;
margin : auto;
}
ul.code {
border : inset 1px;
}
ul.code li {
white-space: pre ;
list-style-type : none;
font-family : monospace;
}
ul.code li.line {
color : red;
}
table.trace {
width : 100%;
border-collapse : collapse;
border : solid 1px black;
}
table.thead tr {
background : rgb(240,240,240);
}
table.trace tr.odd {
background : white;
}
table.trace tr.even {
background : rgb(250,250,250);
}
table.trace td {
padding : 2px 4px 2px 4px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Uncaught <?= get_class( $ex ); ?></h1>
<h2><?= $ex->getMessage(); ?></h2>
<p>
An uncaught <?= get_class( $ex ); ?> was thrown on line <?= $line; ?> of file <?= basename( $file ); ?> that prevented further execution of this request.
</p>
<h2>Where it happened:</h2>
<? if ( isset($lines) ) : ?>
<code><?= $file; ?></code>
<ul class="code">
<? for( $i = $line - 3; $i < $line + 3; $i ++ ) : ?>
<? if ( $i > 0 && $i < count( $lines ) ) : ?>
<? if ( $i == $line-1 ) : ?>
<li class="line"><?= str_replace( "\n", "", $lines[$i] ); ?></li>
<? else : ?>
<li><?= str_replace( "\n", "", $lines[$i] ); ?></li>
<? endif; ?>
<? endif; ?>
<? endfor; ?>
</ul>
<? endif; ?>
<? if ( is_array( $ex->getTrace() ) ) : ?>
<h2>Stack trace:</h2>
<table class="trace">
<thead>
<tr>
<td>File</td>
<td>Line</td>
<td>Class</td>
<td>Function</td>
<td>Arguments</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<? foreach ( $ex->getTrace() as $i => $trace ) : ?>
<tr class="<?= $i % 2 == 0 ? 'even' : 'odd'; ?>">
<td><?= isset($trace[ 'file' ]) ? basename($trace[ 'file' ]) : ''; ?></td>
<td><?= isset($trace[ 'line' ]) ? $trace[ 'line' ] : ''; ?></td>
<td><?= isset($trace[ 'class' ]) ? $trace[ 'class' ] : ''; ?></td>
<td><?= isset($trace[ 'function' ]) ? $trace[ 'function' ] : ''; ?></td>
<td>
<? if( isset($trace[ 'args' ]) ) : ?>
<? foreach ( $trace[ 'args' ] as $i => $arg ) : ?>
<span title="<?= var_export( $arg, true ); ?>"><?= gettype( $arg ); ?></span>
<?= $i < count( $trace['args'] ) -1 ? ',' : ''; ?>
<? endforeach; ?>
<? else : ?>
NULL
<? endif; ?>
</td>
</tr>
<? endforeach;?>
</tbody>
</table>
<? else : ?>
<pre><?= $ex->getTraceAsString(); ?></pre>
<? endif; ?>
</body>
</html><? // back in php
}
set_exception_handler( 'global_exception_handler' );
class X
{
function __construct()
{
trigger_error( 'Whoops!', E_USER_NOTICE );
}
}
$x = new X();
throw new Exception( 'Execution will never get here' );
?>
Kris
2009-05-09 07:46:59
That would be helpful. Anything to ease the times I'm made to deal with PHP will help. :-)
Jason Baker
2009-05-09 14:42:00
Nice code, thanks. I don't get where the class X comes from though, and what its purpose is?
Alec
2009-06-09 00:00:24
everything below "set_exception_handler( 'global_exception_handler' );" is just demo, you won't need it, it's just to show what would happen in a normally non-exception error situation.
Kris
2009-06-09 09:48:54