Re: Best practice concerning Exceptions

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 1:07 AM, Auke van Slooten <auke@muze.nl> wrote: > Hi, > > I've found the XML_RPC2 package (only after writing my own version of it > ofcourse :( ..) and noticed that it declares quite a number of different > exception classes. I've read the 'Error Handling Guidelines for PHP5 > Packages' but couldn't find any information on when to use a new Exception > class and when simply to use a new code and message. > > What is considered good practice for PHP5 exceptions? My own code uses just > two exception classes, with about 8 different codes and messages. It seems > the XML_RPC2 package throws a specific exception class for each error, > skipping error codes. > > I find that most people (myself included) just rely on a general category of exception; and rarely if ever make use of exception codes. IE; I'd do: class Foo { public function bar($path) { // Checking to ensure things are 'valid' or 'expected' -> InvalidArgumentExceptions if (!file_exists($path)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException("Path must exist"); } // Doing the actual business logic; and unexpected things happen $content = file_get_contents($path); if (empty($content)) { throw new InvalidDataException("It looks like the supplied file is empty"); } } } rather than throw new FooException("Path must exist", Foo::INVALID_ARGUMENT); throw new FooException("It looks like the supplied file is empty", Foo::INVALID_DATA);