PHP Error Handling

I'm writing a program in php and I'm currently testing a class I wrote. Part of testing this class involved calling a method while passing an incorrect quantity of arguments. For its part, PHP throws a Warning (Missing Argument), but continues running the method with null in place of the missing argument. This can be problematic down the line.

Calling a method or function with an incorrect quantity of arguments would halt a program compiled in Java or C++ (probably wouldn't compile). I'm not sure why PHP should be any different. As such, I'd like to know where/how I configure PHP to completely halt on warnings. I'd like to do this globally on my own, personal server, but I'm wondering if this is something I can configure ad hoc as well (should I distribute a program to another server that doesn't have such settings globally).

Thanks in advance.

You need to do your own error checking and handling within your code. You cannot change the default behavior of PHP.

You may want to read on Scripting Languages Vs Programming Languages
php is scripting language and interpreted at run time not compiled.

Programming Language (Java of C++)is typically first compiled to a native machine code or to an intermediate language

Quote from dealgate : You need to do your own error checking and handling within your code. You cannot change the default behavior of PHP.

I check all of my own code. I'm attempting to configure and write this code so that if someone else is using the class (such as in a plug-in or module setup), they don't accidentally screw things up. That is to say, I try to design my code to "fail gracefully".

PHP's configuration allows for several behaviors to be changed, including error display and error checking. I was hoping that someone would be able to lead me directly to what I need rather than having to dig around a bunch of crap.

Note: http://stackoverflow.com/question...ce-warning

Quote from dude2000 : You may want to read on Scripting Languages Vs Programming Languages php is scripting language and interpreted at run time not compiled. Programming Language (Java of C++)is typically first compiled to a native machine code or to an intermediate language

I'm fully aware of what PHP is and is not. I bring up C++ and Java (both of which I use as well) to demonstrate the behavior I desire from PHP. That is to say, when there is a function argument mismatch, I want PHP to halt, not continue running the program.

Example of what happened. I tested a function to add an entry into a database. It worked correctly when both arguments were passed. I tested the function when only one argument was passed. It tossed a warning, but still ran the function with the second argument replaced with null. This behavior is unacceptable and has the potential to completely fux a database.

Quote from kakomu : I check all of my own code. I'm attempting to configure and write this code so that if someone else is using the class (such as in a plug-in or module setup), they don't accidentally screw things up. That is to say, I try to design my code to "fail gracefully". PHP's configuration allows for several behaviors to be changed, including error display and error checking. I was hoping that someone would be able to lead me directly to what I need rather than having to dig around a bunch of crap.

If your function is checking the input (error handling), it should be able to return a specific code if the passed variables do not match a pre-defined range and the calling code should take that function return code and prompt for the data to be input again or end or whatever you need to do to stop the undesired action. I would not rely on the user to input the correct data as that is just asking for trouble.

Quote from kakomu : I'm writing a program in php and I'm currently testing a class I wrote. Part of testing this class involved calling a method while passing an incorrect quantity of arguments. For its part, PHP throws a Warning (Missing Argument), but continues running the method with null in place of the missing argument. This can be problematic down the line. Calling a method or function with an incorrect quantity of arguments would halt a program compiled in Java or C++ (probably wouldn't compile). I'm not sure why PHP should be any different. As such, I'd like to know where/how I configure PHP to completely halt on warnings. I'd like to do this globally on my own, personal server, but I'm wondering if this is something I can configure ad hoc as well (should I distribute a program to another server that doesn't have such settings globally). Thanks in advance.

Your best way to handle this is not to alter or find a way to have PHP but to create custom error handling to enact what you want how you want it. That would be done on a program for program, file for file basis. Now you could import error handling functions in from a master file to make it simpler and then insert your error handling code where needed. In other words, what you're asking for isn't going to be done, but there are ways around that.

Can't you have your code throw an exception if the inputs are not good? I'd think that should take care of it, but I haven't touched PHP in years.

Quote from dealgate : If your function is checking the input (error handling), it should be able to return a specific code if the passed variables do not match a pre-defined range and the calling code should take that function return code and prompt for the data to be input again or end or whatever you need to do to stop the undesired action. I would not rely on the user to input the correct data as that is just asking for trouble.

This isn't a problem concerning a range of variables. This isn't an issue of a user passing a string instead of an int. This is a problem wherein I define a method as:
and if someone calls the method as such:
PHP then interprets this as:
,

This is bad. No amount of error detection prior to calling the method is going to solve this issue. Using try for every single function will also bloat the code to excessive levels.

What should happen if addUser($x) is called is the program halts. Any other language would either halt or fail to compile if you have mismatched passed variables. JavaScript even halts on errors (another scripting language).

Quote from Frogstar : Can't you have your code throw an exception if the inputs are not good? I'd think that should take care of it, but I haven't touched PHP in years.

When I run the above faulty code, PHP throws a warning, but doesn't halt. I haven't figured out how to get PHP to halt after throwing a warning and I don't want to wrap every single function in "try" functions.

Classic ASP halted on errors too, unless you told it to behave otherwise.

http://stackoverflow.com/question...ce-warning ?

Quote from kakomu : This isn't a problem concerning a range of variables. This isn't an issue of a user passing a string instead of an int. This is a problem wherein I define a method as: PHP Code: addUser($username, $id)  and if someone calls the method as such: PHP Code: addUser($x)  PHP then interprets this as: PHP Code: addUser($x, null)  , This is bad. No amount of error detection prior to calling the method is going to solve this issue. Using try for every single function will also bloat the code to excessive levels. What should happen if addUser($x) is called is the program halts. Any other language would either halt or fail to compile if you have mismatched passed variables. JavaScript even halts on errors (another scripting language). When I run the above faulty code, PHP throws a warning, but doesn't halt. I haven't figured out how to get PHP to halt after throwing a warning and I don't want to wrap every single function in "try" functions.

Really bad code design if you leave it to the user to be able to call the method and not restrict their parameters to however you wish it to be. This should never ever happen. In the user form that you are submitting for PHP to process, you should be restricting what information they should be filling out and then setting up PHP detection if any fields are NULL or blank or don't fit a certain pattern you are expecting. At this point you can also add leading zeroes or patterns to the string before it gets fed into addUser function. All of this should happen before it gets fed into the addUser function.

Quote : This behavior is unacceptable and has the potential to completely fux a database.

I can call your method as addUser('junk data', 'more junk data')

Any input supplied to your application should be treated as untrusted and passed through a validation routine to ensure that the data is the proper type and format required by your application

Quote from kakomu : This isn't a problem concerning a range of variables. This isn't an issue of a user passing a string instead of an int. This is a problem wherein I define a method as: PHP Code: addUser($username, $id)  and if someone calls the method as such: PHP Code: addUser($x)  PHP then interprets this as: PHP Code: addUser($x, null)  , This is bad. No amount of error detection prior to calling the method is going to solve this issue. Using try for every single function will also bloat the code to excessive levels. What should happen if addUser($x) is called is the program halts. Any other language would either halt or fail to compile if you have mismatched passed variables. JavaScript even halts on errors (another scripting language). When I run the above faulty code, PHP throws a warning, but doesn't halt. I haven't figured out how to get PHP to halt after throwing a warning and I don't want to wrap every single function in "try" functions.

You could use default arguments and then error check for that default argument

Quote from menace33 : Really bad code design if you leave it to the user to be able to call the method and not restrict their parameters to however you wish it to be. This should never ever happen. In the user form that you are submitting for PHP to process, you should be restricting what information they should be filling out and then setting up PHP detection if any fields are NULL or blank or don't fit a certain pattern you are expecting. At this point you can also add leading zeroes or patterns to the string before it gets fed into addUser function. All of this should happen before it gets fed into the addUser function.

Quote from dude2000 : I can call your method as addUser('junk data', 'more junk data') Any input supplied to your application should be treated as untrusted and passed through a validation routine to ensure that the data is the proper type and format required by your application

If you guys do not understand what I'm writing and cannot help me with what I'm requesting, I request that you please refrain from gunking up my thread. I'm not looking for pointers on HOW to code my program. I can avoid these pitfalls quite readily. However, if someone wants to program a plug-in or module to connect to the program, someone else may not be as careful.

I'm looking for information to get PHP to function like any other compiler out there. If you aren't responding to this request, please refrain from responding.

PHP is not a compiler and cannot be forced to malfunction in the way that compilers do. What you are trying to do is not possible, sorry.

Try this:
There is no such things as an "incorrect" number of arguments in PHP - it is designed to handle variable number of parameters by using defaults.