Catcher

Catcher is a Throwable catcher and error handling library for PHP. Error handling is accomplished using a stack-based approach.

Catcher uses classes called handlers to handle throwables sent its way. PHP is currently in a state of flux when it comes to errors. There are traditional PHP errors which are triggered in userland by using trigger_error() which can't be caught using try/catch and are generally a pain to work with. PHP has begun to remedy this problem by introducing the \Error class and its various child classes. However, a lot of functions and core aspects of the language itself continue to use legacy errors. This class does away with this pain point in PHP by turning all errors into throwables. When Catcher converts legacy errors into throwables it will only exit if PHP would, so warnings, notices, etc. won't cause the program to exit unless you configure it to do so. Non user-level fatal errors are picked up by Catcher using its shutdown handler. This means that simply by invoking Catcher one may now... catch (almost) any error PHP then handles.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or newer with the following optional extensions:
  • dom extension (for HTMLHandler)

Installation

composer require mensbeam/catcher

Usage

For most use cases this library requires no configuration and little effort to integrate into non-complex environments:

use MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;

$catcher = new Catcher();

That's it. It will automatically register Catcher as an exception, error, and shutdown handler and use PlainTextHandler as its sole handler. Catcher can be configured to use one or multiple handlers. Imagine a situation where it is necessary to both output text for logging and JSON for an API endpoint. This is easily done using Catcher:

use MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher,
    Monolog\Logger;
use MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\{
    JSONHandler,
    PlainTextHandler
};

$catcher = new Catcher(
    new PlainTextHandler([
        'logger' => new Logger('log'),
        'silent' => true
    ]),
    new JSONHandler()
);

The example above uses Monolog for its logger, but any PSR-3-compatible logger will work. The PlainTextHandler is configured to use a logger where then it will send any and all errors to the logger to do with as it pleases. It is also configured to be otherwise silent. JSONHandler is then configured using its default configuration. Handlers are placed within a stack and executed in the order by which they are fed to Catcher, so in this case PlainTextHandler will go first, logging the error. JSONHandler will follow afterwards and print the JSON.

Catcher comes built-in with the following handlers:

• HTMLHandler – Outputs errors in a clean HTML document; uses DOM to assemble the document.
• JSONHandler – Outputs errors in a JSON format mostly representative of how errors are stored internally by Catcher handlers; it is provided as an example. The decision to make it like this was made because errors often need to be represented according to particular requirements or even a specification, and we cannot possibly support them all. JSONHandler, however, can be easily extended to suit individual project needs.
• PlainTextHandler – Outputs errors cleanly in plain text meant mostly for command line use and also provides for logging

A Note About Warnings & Notices

As described in the summary paragraph at the beginning of this document, Catcher by default converts all warnings, notices, etc. to Throwables and then proceeds to throw them. Normally, when throwing that halts execution no matter what, but with Catcher that is not the case.

$catcher = new Catcher();

try {
    trigger_error(\E_USER_WARNING, 'Ook!');
} catch (\Throwable $t) {
    echo $t->message();
}

Output:

Ook!

This is accomplished internally because of pcntl_fork. The throw is done in a separate fork which causes that fork to exit after the Throwable is handled while the main process is allowed to continue. pcntl_fork is a POSIX function and therefore is only available for use in CLI UNIX environments; this means that it will work neither in Windows nor in Web environments. We also understand this might be undesirable behavior to some, so turning this off is as simple as setting Catcher::$forking to false.

Documentation

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher

This is the main class in the library. Unless you have a need to configure a handler or use multiple handlers there usually isn't a need to interact with the rest of the library at all.

namespace MensBeam\Foundation;
use Mensbeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler;

class Catcher {
    public bool $forking = true;
    public bool $preventExit = false;
    public bool $throwErrors = true;

    public function __construct(Handler ...$handlers);

    public function getHandlers(): array;
    public function getLastThrowable(): ?\Throwable;
    public function isRegistered(): bool;
    public function popHandler(): Handler;
    public function pushHandler(Handler ...$handlers): void;
    public function register(): bool;
    public function setHandlers(Handler ...$handlers): void;
    public function shiftHandler(): Handler;
    public function unregister(): bool;
    public function unshiftHandler(Handler ...$handlers): void;
}

Properties

forking: When set to true Catcher will throw converted notices, warnings, etc. in a fork, allowing for execution to continue afterwards preventExit: When set to true Catcher won't exit at all even after fatal errors or exceptions
throwErrors: When set to true Catcher will convert errors to throwables

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::getHandlers

Returns an array of the handlers defined for use in the Catcher instance

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::getLastThrowable

Returns the last throwable that this instance of Catcher has handled

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::isRegistered

Returns whether the Catcher still is registered as a error, exception, and shutdown handler

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::popHandler

Pops the last handler off the stack and returns it

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::pushHandler

Pushes the specified handler(s) onto the stack

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::register

Registers the Catcher instance as an error, exception, and shutdown handler. By default the constructor does this automatically, but this method exists in case unregister has been called.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::setHandlers

Replaces the stack of handlers with those specified as parameters.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::shiftHandler

Shifts the first handler off the stack of handlers and returns it.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::unregister

Unregisters the Catcher instance as an error, exception and shutdown handler.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher::unshiftHandler

Unshifts the specified handler(s) onto the beginning of the stack

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler

All handlers inherit from this abstract class. Since it is an abstract class meant for constructing handlers protected methods and properties will be documented here as well.

namespace MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;

abstract class Handler {
    public const CONTENT_TYPE = null;

    // Control constants
    public const CONTINUE = 1;
    public const BREAK = 2;
    public const EXIT = 4;

    // Output constants
    public const OUTPUT = 8;
    public const SILENT = 16;
    public const NOW = 32;

    protected array $outputBuffer;

    // Options
    protected int $_backtraceArgFrameLimit = 5;
    protected string $_charset = 'UTF-8';
    protected bool $_forceBreak = false;
    protected bool $_forceExit = false;
    protected bool $_forceOutputNow = false;
    protected int $_httpCode = 500;
    protected bool $_outputBacktrace = false;
    protected bool $_outputPrevious = true;
    protected bool $_outputTime = true;
    protected bool $_outputToStderr = true;
    protected bool $_silent = false;
    protected string $_timeFormat = 'Y-m-d\TH:i:s.vO';

    public function __construct(array $options = []);

    public function dispatch(): void;
    public function getOption(string $name): mixed;
    public function handle(ThrowableController $controller): array;
    public function setOption(string $name, mixed $value): void;

    protected function buildOutputArray(ThrowableController $controller): array;
    protected function cleanOutputThrowable(array $outputThrowable): array;

    abstract protected function dispatchCallback(): void;

    protected function handleCallback(array $output): array;
    protected function print(string $string): void;
}

Constants

CONTENT_TYPE: The mime type of the content that is output by the handler

CONTINUE: When returned within the control code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes the stack loop to continue onto the next handler after handling; this is the default behavior.
BREAK: When returned within the control code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes the stack loop to break after the handler finishes, causing any further down in the stack to not run.
EXIT: When returned within the control code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes Catcher to exit after running all handlers.

OUTPUT: When returned within the output code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes the handler to output the throwable when dispatching.
SILENT: When returned within the output code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes the handler to be silent.
NOW: When returned within the output code bitmask in the handler's output array, it causes Catcher to have the handler immediately dispatch.

Properties (Protected)

outputBuffer: This is where the output arrays representing the handled throwables are stored until they are dispatched.

Options

Properties which begin with an underscore all are options. They can be set either through the constructor or via setHandler by name, removing the underscore at the beginning. All handlers inherit these options. Options in inherited classes should also begin with an underscore (_). How to extend Handler will be explained further down in the document.

backtraceArgFrameLimit: The number of frames by which there can be arguments output with them. Defaults to 5.
charset: The character set of the output; only used if headers weren't sent before an error occurred. No conversion is done. Defaults to "UTF_8".
forceBreak: When set this will force the stack loop to break after the handler has run. Defaults to false.
forceExit: When set this will force an exit after all handlers have been run. Defaults to false.
forceOutputNow: When set this will force output of the handler immediately. Defaults to false.
httpCode: The HTTP code to be sent; possible values are 200, 400-599. Defaults to 500.
outputBacktrace: When true will output a stack trace. Defaults to false.
outputPrevious: When true will output previous throwables. Defaults to true.
outputTime: When true will output times to the output. Defaults to true.
outputToStderr: When the SAPI is cli output errors to stderr. Defaults to true.
silent: When true the handler won't output anything. Defaults to false.
timeFormat: The PHP-standard date format which to use for times in output. Defaults to "Y-m-d\TH:i:s.vO".

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::dispatch

Outputs the stored throwable arrays in the output buffer.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::getOption

Returns the value of the provided option name

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::handle

Handles the provided ThrowableController and stores the output array in the output buffer to be dispatched later

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::setOption

Sets the provided option with the provided value

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::buildOutputArray (protected)

With a given ThrowableController will output an array to be stored in the output buffer

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::cleanOutputThrowable (protected)

"Cleans" an output throwable -- an individual item in the output array -- by removing information that's unnecessary in the output; useful for structured data output such as JSON.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::dispatchCallback (protected)

A callback method meant to be extended by inherited classes to control how the class outputs the throwable arrays

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::handleCallback (protected)

A callback method meant to be extended by inherited classes where the output array can be manipulated before storing in the output buffer

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler::print (protected)

Prints the provided string to stderr or stdout depending on how the handler is configured and which SAPI is being used.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\ThrowableController

We cannot require all throwables to be converted to our own classes, so this class exists as a controller to add new features to throwables for use with Catcher.

namespace MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;

class ThrowableController {
    public function __construct(\Throwable $throwable);

    public function getErrorType(): ?string;
    public function getFrames(int $argFrameLimit = \PHP_INT_MAX): array;
    public function getPrevious(): ?ThrowableController;
    public function getThrowable(): \Throwable;
}

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\ThrowableController::getErrorType

Returns the error type of a MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Error, meaning a human-friendly representation of the error code (eg: "Fatal Error", "Warning", "Notice") or null if the throwable isn't an Error.

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\ThrowableController::getFrames

Returns the frames for the throwable as an array with deduplication and fixes all taken care of

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\ThrowableController::getPrevious

Returns the previous ThrowableController if there is one

MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\ThrowableController::getThrowable

Returns the throwable controlled by this class instance

Mensbeam\Foundation\Catcher\HTMLHandler

namespace MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;

class HTMLHandler extends Handler {
    public const CONTENT_TYPE = 'text/html';

    // Options
    protected ?\DOMDocument $_document = null;
    protected string $_errorPath = '/html/body';
    protected string $_timeFormat = 'H:i:s';
}

Options

document: The \DOMDocument errors should be inserted into. If one isn't provided a document will be created for this purpose.
errorPath: An XPath path to the element where the errors should be inserted. Defaults to "/html/body".
timeFormat: Same as in Handler, but the default changes to "H:i:s".

Mensbeam\Foundation\Catcher\JSONHandler

namespace MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;

class JSONHandler extends Handler {
    public const CONTENT_TYPE = 'application/json';
}

Mensbeam\Foundation\Catcher\PlainTextHandler

namespace MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher;
use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;

class PlainTextHandler extends Handler {
    public const CONTENT_TYPE = 'text/plain';

    // Options
    protected ?LoggerInterface $_logger = null;
    protected string $_timeFormat = '[H:i:s]';
}

Options

logger: The PSR-3 compatible logger in which to log to. Defaults to null (no logging).
timeFormat: Same as in Handler, but the default changes to "[H:i:s]".

Creating Handlers

The default handlers, especially PlainTextHandler, are set up to handle most tasks, but obviously more is possible with a bit of work. Thankfully, creating handlers is as simple as extending the Handler class. Here is an example of a theoretical YamlHandler (which is very similar to JSONHandler):

namespace Your\Namespace\Goes\Here;
use MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher\Handler,
    Symfony\Component\Yaml\Yaml;


class YamlHandler extends Handler {
    public const CONTENT_TYPE = 'application/yaml';

    // Options
    protected bool _outputObjectAsMap = true;
    protected bool _outputMultiLineLiteralBlock = true;
    protected bool _outputEmptyArrayAsSequence = true;
    protected bool _outputNullAsTilde = false;


    protected function dispatchCallback(): void {
        foreach ($this->outputBuffer as $key => $value) {
            if ($value['outputCode'] & self::SILENT) {
                unset($this->outputBuffer[$key]);
                continue;
            }

            $this->outputBuffer[$key] = $this->cleanOutputThrowable($this->outputBuffer[$key]);
        }

        if (count($this->outputBuffer) > 0) {
            $flags = 0;
            $flags |= ($this->_outputObjectAsMap) ? Yaml::DUMP_OBJECT_AS_MAP : 0;
            $flags |= ($this->_outputMultiLineLiteralBlock) ? Yaml::DUMP_MULTI_LINE_LITERAL_BLOCK : 0;
            $flags |= ($this->_outputEmptyArrayAsSequence) ? Yaml::DUMP_EMPTY_ARRAY_AS_SEQUENCE : 0;
            $flags |= ($this->_outputNullAsTilde) ? Yaml::DUMP_NULL_AS_TILDE : 0;

            $this->print(Yaml::dump([
                'errors' => $this->outputBuffer
            ], $flags));
        }
    }
}

This theoretical class uses the symfony/yaml package in Composer and exposes a few of its options as options for the Handler. Using this class would be very similar to the examples provided at the beginning of this document:

use MensBeam\Foundation\Catcher,
    Your\Namespace\Goes\Here\YamlHandler;

$catcher = new Catcher(new YamlHandler([
    'outputNullAsTilde' => true
]);

More complex handlers are possible by extending the various methods documented above. Examples can be seen by looking at the code for both HTMLHandler and PlainTextHandler.