repo_zf1/documentation/manual/en/module_specs/Zend_Controller-Exceptions.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<sect1 id="zend.controller.exceptions">
    <title>MVC Exceptions</title>

    <sect2 id="zend.controller.exceptions.introduction">
        <title>Introduction</title>

        <para>
            The MVC components in Zend Framework utilize a Front Controller,
            which means that all requests to a given site will go through a
            single entry point. As a result, all exceptions bubble up to the
            Front Controller eventually, allowing the developer to handle them
            in a single location.
        </para>

        <para>
            However, exception messages and backtrace information often contain
            sensitive system information, such as SQL statements, file
            locations, and more. To help protect your site, by default
            <classname>Zend_Controller_Front</classname> catches all exceptions and
            registers them with the response object; in turn, by default, the
            response object does not display exception messages.
        </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="zend.controller.exceptions.handling">
        <title>Handling Exceptions</title>

        <para>
            Several mechanisms are built in to the MVC components already to
            allow you to handle exceptions.
        </para>

        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <para>
                    By default, the <link
                        linkend="zend.controller.plugins.standard.errorhandler">error
                    handler plugin</link> is registered and active. This plugin
                    was designed to handle:
                </para>

                <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem><para>Errors due to missing controllers or actions</para></listitem>

                    <listitem><para>Errors occurring within action controllers</para></listitem>
                </itemizedlist>

                <para>
                    It operates as a <code>postDispatch()</code> plugin, and
                    checks to see if a dispatcher, action controller, or
                    other exception has occurred. If so, it forwards to an error
                    handler controller.
                </para>

                <para>
                    This handler will cover most exceptional situations, and
                    handle missing controllers and actions gracefully.
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para><classname>Zend_Controller_Front::throwExceptions()</classname></para>

                <para>
                    By passing a boolean true value to this method, you can tell
                    the front controller that instead of aggregating exceptions
                    in the response object or using the error handler plugin,
                    you'd rather handle them yourself. As an example:
                </para>

                <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
$front->throwExceptions(true);
try {
    $front->dispatch();
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // handle exceptions yourself
}
]]></programlisting>

                <para>
                    This method is probably the easiest way to add custom
                    exception handling covering the full range of possible
                    exceptions to your front controller application.
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para><classname>Zend_Controller_Response_Abstract::renderExceptions()</classname></para>

                <para>
                    By passing a boolean true value to this method, you tell the
                    response object that it should render an exception message
                    and backtrace when rendering itself. In this scenario, any
                    exception raised by your application will be displayed. This
                    is only recommended for non-production environments.
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para>
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Front::returnResponse()</classname> and
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Response_Abstract::isException()</classname>.
                </para>

                <para>
                    By passing a boolean true to
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Front::returnResponse()</classname>,
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Front::dispatch()</classname> will not render the
                    response, but instead return it. Once you have the response,
                    you may then test to see if any exceptions were trapped using
                    its <code>isException()</code> method, and retrieving the exceptions via
                    the <code>getException()</code> method. As an example:
                </para>

                <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
$front->returnResponse(true);
$response = $front->dispatch();
if ($response->isException()) {
    $exceptions = $response->getException();
    // handle exceptions ...
} else {
    $response->sendHeaders();
    $response->outputBody();
}
]]></programlisting>

                <para>
                    The primary advantage this method offers over
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Front::throwExceptions()</classname> is to
                    allow you to conditionally render the response after
                    handling the exception. This will catch any exception in the
                    controller chain, unlike the error handler plugin.
                </para>
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="zend.controller.exceptions.internal">
        <title>MVC Exceptions You May Encounter</title>

        <para>
            The various MVC components -- request, router, dispatcher, action
            controller, and response objects -- may each throw exceptions on
            occasion. Some exceptions may be conditionally overridden, and
            others are used to indicate the developer may need to consider
            their application structure.
        </para>

        <para>As some examples:</para>

        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <para>
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Dispatcher::dispatch()</classname> will,
                    by default, throw an exception if an invalid controller is
                    requested. There are two recommended ways to deal with
                    this.
                </para>

                <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem>
                        <para>Set the <code>useDefaultControllerAlways</code> parameter.</para>

                        <para>
                            In your front controller, or your dispatcher, add
                            the following directive:
                        </para>

                        <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
$front->setParam('useDefaultControllerAlways', true);

// or

$dispatcher->setParam('useDefaultControllerAlways', true);
]]></programlisting>

                        <para>
                            When this flag is set, the dispatcher will use the
                            default controller and action instead of throwing an
                            exception. The disadvantage to this method is that
                            any typos a user makes when accessing your site will
                            still resolve and display your home page, which can
                            wreak havoc with search engine optimization.
                        </para>
                    </listitem>

                    <listitem>
                        <para>
                            The exception thrown by <code>dispatch()</code> is
                            a <classname>Zend_Controller_Dispatcher_Exception</classname>
                            containing the text 'Invalid controller specified'.
                            Use one of the methods outlined in <link
                                linkend="zend.controller.exceptions.handling">the
                                previous section</link> to catch the exception,
                            and then redirect to a generic error page or the
                            home page.
                        </para>
                    </listitem>
                </itemizedlist>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para>
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Action::__call()</classname> will throw a
                    <classname>Zend_Controller_Action_Exception</classname> if it cannot
                    dispatch a non-existent action to a method. Most likely,
                    you will want to use some default action in the controller
                    in cases like this. Ways to achieve this include:
                </para>

                <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem>
                        <para>
                            Subclass <classname>Zend_Controller_Action</classname> and
                            override the <code>__call()</code> method. As an
                            example:
                        </para>

                        <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
class My_Controller_Action extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
    public function __call($method, $args)
    {
        if ('Action' == substr($method, -6)) {
            $controller = $this->getRequest()->getControllerName();
            $url = '/' . $controller . '/index';
            return $this->_redirect($url);
        }

        throw new Exception('Invalid method');
    }
}
]]></programlisting>
                        <para>
                            The example above intercepts any undefined action
                            method called and redirects it to the default action
                            in the controller.
                        </para>
                    </listitem>

                    <listitem>
                        <para>
                            Subclass <classname>Zend_Controller_Dispatcher</classname>
                            and override the <code>getAction()</code> method to
                            verify the action exists. As an example:
                        </para>

                        <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
class My_Controller_Dispatcher extends Zend_Controller_Dispatcher
{
    public function getAction($request)
    {
        $action = $request->getActionName();
        if (empty($action)) {
            $action = $this->getDefaultAction();
            $request->setActionName($action);
            $action = $this->formatActionName($action);
        } else {
            $controller = $this->getController();
            $action     = $this->formatActionName($action);
            if (!method_exists($controller, $action)) {
                $action = $this->getDefaultAction();
                $request->setActionName($action);
                $action = $this->formatActionName($action);
            }
        }

        return $action;
    }
}
]]></programlisting>

                        <para>
                            The above code checks to see that the requested
                            action exists in the controller class; if not, it
                            resets the action to the default action.
                        </para>

                        <para>
                            This method is nice because you can transparently
                            alter the action prior to final dispatch. However,
                            it also means that typos in the URL may still
                            dispatch correctly, which is not great for search
                            engine optimization.
                        </para>
                    </listitem>

                    <listitem>
                        <para>
                            Use
                            <classname>Zend_Controller_Action::preDispatch()</classname>
                            or
                            <classname>Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract::preDispatch()</classname>
                            to identify invalid actions.
                        </para>

                        <para>
                            By subclassing <classname>Zend_Controller_Action</classname>
                            and modifying <code>preDispatch()</code>, you can
                            modify all of your controllers to forward to
                            another action or redirect prior to actually
                            dispatching the action. The code for this will look
                            similar to the code for overriding
                            <code>__call()</code>, above.
                        </para>

                        <para>
                            Alternatively, you can check this information in a
                            global plugin. This has the advantage of being
                            action controller independent; if your application
                            consists of a variety of action controllers, and not
                            all of them inherit from the same class, this method
                            can add consistency in handling your various
                            classes.
                        </para>

                        <para>
                            As an example:
                        </para>

                        <programlisting role="php"><![CDATA[
class My_Controller_PreDispatchPlugin extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
    public function preDispatch(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
    {
        $front      = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
        $dispatcher = $front->getDispatcher();
        $class      = $dispatcher->getControllerClass($request);
        if (!$controller) {
            $class = $dispatcher->getDefaultControllerClass($request);
        }

        $r      = new ReflectionClass($class);
        $action = $dispatcher->getActionMethod($request);

        if (!$r->hasMethod($action)) {
            $defaultAction  = $dispatcher->getDefaultAction();
            $controllerName = $request->getControllerName();
            $response       = $front->getResponse();
            $response->setRedirect('/' . $controllerName
                                  . '/' . $defaultAction);
            $response->sendHeaders();
            exit;
        }
    }
}
]]></programlisting>

                        <para>
                            In this example, we check to see if the action
                            requested is available in the controller. If not, we
                            redirect to the default action in the controller,
                            and exit script execution immediately.
                        </para>
                    </listitem>
                </itemizedlist>
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>
</sect1>
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