Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler provides a drop-in plugin for handling exceptions thrown by your application, including those resulting from missing controllers or actions; it is an alternative to the methods listed in the MVC Exceptions section. The primary targets of the plugin are: Intercept exceptions raised due to missing controllers or action methods Intercept exceptions raised within action controllers In other words, the ErrorHandler plugin is designed to handle HTTP 404-type errors (page missing) and 500-type errors (internal error). It is not intended to catch exceptions raised in other plugins or routing. By default, Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler will forward to ErrorController::errorAction() in the default module. You may set alternate values for these by using the various accessors available to the plugin: setErrorHandlerModule() sets the controller module to use. setErrorHandlerController() sets the controller to use. setErrorHandlerAction() sets the controller action to use. setErrorHandler() takes an associative array, which may contain any of the keys 'module', 'controller', or 'action', with which it will set the appropriate values. Additionally, you may pass an optional associative array to the constructor, which will then proxy to setErrorHandler(). Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler registers a postDispatch() hook and checks for exceptions registered in the response object. If any are found, it attempts to forward to the registered error handler action. If an exception occurs dispatching the error handler, the plugin will tell the front controller to throw exceptions, and rethrow the last exception registered with the response object. Using the ErrorHandler as a 404 Handler Since the ErrorHandler plugin captures not only application errors, but also errors in the controller chain arising from missing controller classes and/or action methods, it can be used as a 404 handler. To do so, you will need to have your error controller check the exception type. Exceptions captured are logged in an object registered in the request. To retrieve it, use Zend_Controller_Action::_getParam('error_handler'): _getParam('error_handler'); } } ]]> Once you have the error object, you can get the type via $errors->type. It will be one of the following: Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_CONTROLLER, indicating the controller was not found. Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_ACTION, indicating the requested action was not found. Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_OTHER, indicating other exceptions. You can then test for either of the first two types, and, if so, indicate a 404 page: _getParam('error_handler'); switch ($errors->type) { case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_CONTROLLER: case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_ACTION: // 404 error -- controller or action not found $this->getResponse() ->setRawHeader('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found'); // ... get some output to display... break; default: // application error; display error page, but don't // change status code break; } } } ]]> Finally, you can retrieve the exception that triggered the error handler by grabbing the exception property of the error_handler object: _getParam('error_handler'); switch ($errors->type) { case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_CONTROLLER: case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_ACTION: // 404 error -- controller or action not found $this->getResponse() ->setRawHeader('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found'); // ... get some output to display... break; default: // application error; display error page, but don't change // status code // ... // Log the exception: $exception = $errors->exception; $log = new Zend_Log( new Zend_Log_Writer_Stream( '/tmp/applicationException.log' ) ); $log->debug($exception->getMessage() . "\n" . $exception->getTraceAsString()); break; } } ]]> Handling Previously Rendered Output If you dispatch multiple actions in a request, or if your action makes multiple calls to render(), it's possible that the response object already has content stored within it. This can lead to rendering a mixture of expected content and error content. If you wish to render errors inline in such pages, no changes will be necessary. If you do not wish to render such content, you should clear the response body prior to rendering any views: getResponse()->clearBody(); ]]> Plugin Usage Examples Standard Usage registerPlugin(new Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler()); ]]> Setting a Different Error Handler registerPlugin(new Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler(array( 'module' => 'mystuff', 'controller' => 'static', 'action' => 'error' ))); ]]> Using Accessors setErrorHandlerModule('mystuff') ->setErrorHandlerController('static') ->setErrorHandlerAction('error'); $front = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance(); $front->registerPlugin($plugin); ]]> Error Controller Example In order to use the Error Handler plugin, you need an error controller. Below is a simple example. _getParam('error_handler'); switch ($errors->type) { case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_CONTROLLER: case Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler::EXCEPTION_NO_ACTION: // 404 error -- controller or action not found $this->getResponse()->setRawHeader('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found'); $content =<<Error!

The page you requested was not found.

EOH; break; default: // application error $content =<<Error!

An unexpected error occurred. Please try again later.

EOH; break; } // Clear previous content $this->getResponse()->clearBody(); $this->view->content = $content; } } ]]>