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Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:25:47 +0100
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Subject: Errors, Exceptions et al
From: hp@oeri.ch (Hans-Peter Oeri)

Hi!

Although I'm new here and I know I'm about to stir up a hornets' nest,
please allow me to introduce another error/exception proposal.

The problem for me as a php end-user currently is, that no coherent
error behaviour in php exists. Core functions only issue errors, intl
eg. suppresses all errors (if not enabled), pdo allows suppressing
errors, exceptions and errors - but only of level E_WARNING.

Whether I prefer suppressing errors, errors or exceptions, I always
run into problems:
- If I prefer suppressing errors, I cannot do so with any granularity;
  always setting an resetting the error reporting functions is
  cumbersome and messy (error-prone).
- If I prefer errors, I have to take care of extensions that default
  on suppressing them (like intl) with probably different methods
  of enabling errors (ini or per object or...) and frankly, I cannot
  count on the error level.
- If I prefer exceptions, much of php doesn't support them at all and
  extensions might have different facilities to enable them.
  ErrorException is not really a solution, as exception information
  (exception class, previous exception) is lost.

I therefore propose to let the *user* decide on the kind of error
behaviour; and with some granularity at that.

An extension would only ever call a common error function, with at least
error code and error message (plus desired error_level and exception
class if needed), whereas the "error configuration" not only decides on
whether showing the error (now) but also if it is an error or an
exception (new).

For more details, please have a look at:
http://wiki.php.net/rfc/enhanced_error_handling
(which is by no means complete or error free itself)

Regards
HPO