Okay, so I've finally got an opportunity to start converting our code to use Mysqli instead of the old mysql_* functions. Mysqli is new to me, but I thought things were going well until the first time I tried to run a query with a syntax error in it, and it threw up a PHP warning. Being that Mysqli is an OO API, I guess I assumed that any errors would simply surface as exceptions, and indeed, I got an exception in this case. But I also got a PHP warning containing the same information.
This is the first thing that strikes me as terribly wrong. I think any API, OO or not, should never spit out errors/warnings/notices for routine errors (like, in this case, an SQL syntax error). Rather, the function/method should signal an error through a defined mechanism, such as the return value (e.g., false on failure), or via an exception for class methods. This philosophy jives well with my understand of the direction of error handling in PHP, which is to use exceptions, rather than errors/warnings/notices, for all the newer OOP APIs. Secondly, I can't find a good way to handle these warnings. We do all development with error handling set to E_STRICT | E_ALL, and our general policy is that no such errors should be generated. This behavior by Mysqli means that we effectively need to catch SQL problems in both our error handlers and in our exception handling. I recognize that we could just use suppression, but that's, well, nasty. Digging a bit more, I found mysqli_report(). This looks pretty good, but I find it odd that 1) it's a procedural-only function that controls an OO API, and 2), it takes affect for the entire request, which effectively means it has to be set up right for each database access rather than just once per database instance. I suspect this relates to the underlying implementation, but it's still quite the letdown. Is there something I'm missing in all this, or is really as clunky as it seems? What have those of you with more Mysqli experience found to work well as a good error-handling pattern when working with it? -- Robert E. Williams, Jr. Associate Vice President of Software Development Newtek Businesss Services, Inc. -- The Small Business Authority https://www.newtekreferrals.com/rewjr http://www.thesba.com/ Notice: This communication, including attachments, may contain information that is confidential. It constitutes non-public information intended to be conveyed only to the designated recipient(s). If the reader or recipient of this communication is not the intended recipient, an employee or agent of the intended recipient who is responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, or if you believe that you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and promptly delete this e-mail, including attachments without reading or saving them in any manner. The unauthorized use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this e-mail, including attachments, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail or telephone and delete the e-mail and the attachments (if any). -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
