Laravel API, how to properly handle errors

Question

Anyone know what is the best way to handle errors in Laravel, there is any rules or something to follow ?

Currently i'm doing this :

public function store(Request $request) {   $plate = Plate::create($request->all());    if ($plate) {     return $this->response($this->plateTransformer->transform($plate));   } else {     // Error handling ?     // Error 400 bad request     $this->setStatusCode(400);     return $this->responseWithError("Store failed.");   } } 

And the setStatusCode and responseWithError come from the father of my controller :

public function setStatusCode($statusCode) {     $this->statusCode = $statusCode;      return $this; }  public function responseWithError ($message ) {     return $this->response([         'error' => [             'message' => $message,             'status_code' => $this->getStatusCode()         ]     ]);  } 

But is this a good way to handle the API errors, i see some different way to handle errors on the web, what is the best ?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Try this, i have used it in my project (app/Exceptions/Handler.php)

public function render($request, Exception $exception) {     if ($request->wantsJson()) {   //add Accept: application/json in request         return $this->handleApiException($request, $exception);     } else {         $retval = parent::render($request, $exception);     }      return $retval; } 

Now Handle Api exception

private function handleApiException($request, Exception $exception) {     $exception = $this->prepareException($exception);      if ($exception instanceof \Illuminate\Http\Exception\HttpResponseException) {         $exception = $exception->getResponse();     }      if ($exception instanceof \Illuminate\Auth\AuthenticationException) {         $exception = $this->unauthenticated($request, $exception);     }      if ($exception instanceof \Illuminate\Validation\ValidationException) {         $exception = $this->convertValidationExceptionToResponse($exception, $request);     }      return $this->customApiResponse($exception); } 

After that custom Api handler response

private function customApiResponse($exception) {     if (method_exists($exception, 'getStatusCode')) {         $statusCode = $exception->getStatusCode();     } else {         $statusCode = 500;     }      $response = [];      switch ($statusCode) {         case 401:             $response['message'] = 'Unauthorized';             break;         case 403:             $response['message'] = 'Forbidden';             break;         case 404:             $response['message'] = 'Not Found';             break;         case 405:             $response['message'] = 'Method Not Allowed';             break;         case 422:             $response['message'] = $exception->original['message'];             $response['errors'] = $exception->original['errors'];             break;         default:             $response['message'] = ($statusCode == 500) ? 'Whoops, looks like something went wrong' : $exception->getMessage();             break;     }      if (config('app.debug')) {         $response['trace'] = $exception->getTrace();         $response['code'] = $exception->getCode();     }      $response['status'] = $statusCode;      return response()->json($response, $statusCode); } 

Always add Accept: application/json in your api or json request.

Answer 2

Laravel is already able to manage json responses by default.

Withouth customizing the render method in app\Handler.php you can simply throw a Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\HttpException, the default handler will recognize if the request header contains Accept: application/json and will print a json error message accordingly.

If debug mode is enabled it will output the stacktrace in json format too.

Here is a quick example:

<?php  ...  use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\HttpException;  class ApiController {     public function myAction(Request $request)     {         try {             // My code...         } catch (\Exception $e) {             throw new HttpException(500, $e->getMessage());         }          return $myObject;     } } 

Here is laravel response with debug off

{     "message": "My custom error" } 

And here is the response with debug on

{     "message": "My custom error",     "exception": "Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\Exception\\HttpException",     "file": "D:\\www\\myproject\\app\\Http\\Controllers\\ApiController.php",     "line": 24,     "trace": [         {             "file": "D:\\www\\myproject\\vendor\\laravel\\framework\\src\\Illuminate\\Routing\\ControllerDispatcher.php",             "line": 48,             "function": "myAction",             "class": "App\\Http\\Controllers\\ApiController",             "type": "->"         },         {             "file": "D:\\www\\myproject\\vendor\\laravel\\framework\\src\\Illuminate\\Routing\\Route.php",             "line": 212,             "function": "dispatch",             "class": "Illuminate\\Routing\\ControllerDispatcher",             "type": "->"         },          ...     ] } 

Using HttpException the call will return the http status code of your choice (in this case internal server error 500)