Zend framework - error page for PHP fatal errors

Question

On a PHP webapp using the Zend 1 framework, if the code throws an exception, I get a nice error page with my branding etc.

If the code encounters a PHP fatal error (eg "method call on non-object" when an object reference is unexpectedly null), then I just get a bare Apache 500 error page.

How can I get a nice error page in the latter case?

Things I have tried:

• If the PHP ini "display_errors" is set, then I get just the fatal error message as plain text
• If "display_errors" is not set, then I get the Apache default 500 error page
• The Apache "ErrorDocument" directive seems to be ignored in this case

Answer 1

In case this helps anyone I was able, via a bit of hackery, to get the full Zend error page (with application layout) to display in the case of fatal errors.

Hopefully there is a much easier way to do this. If so, please add an answer with your alternative.

Add this to the bootstrap:

  /**
   * Sets up a register_shutdown_function hook to give a nice error page when a
   * PHP fatal error is encountered.
   */
  protected function _initFatalErrorCatcher()
  {
      register_shutdown_function(array($this, 'onApplicationShutdown'));
  }

  public function onApplicationShutdown()
  {
      $error = error_get_last();
      $wasFatal = ($error && ($error['type'] === E_ERROR) || ($error['type'] === E_USER_ERROR));
      if ($wasFatal)
      {
          $frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
          $errorHandler = $frontController->getPlugin('Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler');
          $request = $frontController->getRequest();
          $response = $frontController->getResponse();

          // Add the fatal exception to the response in a format that ErrorHandler will understand
          $response->setException(new Exception(
              "Fatal error: $error[message] at $error[file]:$error[line]",
              $error['type']));

          // Call ErrorHandler->_handleError which will forward to the Error controller
          $handleErrorMethod = new ReflectionMethod('Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler', '_handleError');
          $handleErrorMethod->setAccessible(true);
          $handleErrorMethod->invoke($errorHandler, $request);

          // Discard any view output from before the fatal
          ob_end_clean();

          // Now display the error controller:
          $frontController->dispatch($request, $response);
      }
  }

You need a custom router class to help:

class My_Router_Rewrite extends Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite
{
    public function route(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
    {
        // If the ErrorHandler plugin has stashed the error in a request param, then
        // it will have already dealt with routing (see Bootstrap::onApplicationShutdown())
        // (Note that this param cannot be spoofed, since any user-supplied params
        // will be strings, not objects)
        if (is_object($request->getParam('error_handler'))) {
            return $request;
        } else {
            return parent::route($request);
        }
    }
}

(make sure that this class is registered as your router in the bootstrap)

Answer 2

A solution similar to previous but without needing of rewrite router.

In Bootstrap.php:

public function __construct($application) {
    parent::__construct($application);

    // handle PHP errors
    Core_Error_Handler::set();
}

The Core/Error/Handler.php class:

class Core_Error_Handler {

    public static function handle() {

        if(!$error = error_get_last()) {
            return;
        }

        $frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
        $request = $frontController->getRequest();
        $response = $frontController->getResponse();

        $response->setException(new Exception("Fatal error: $error[message] at $error[file]:$error[line]",$error['type']));

        // this clean what is before the error
        ob_end_clean();

        $frontController->dispatch($request, $response);
    }

    public static function set(){
        register_shutdown_function(array(__CLASS__, 'handle'));
    }
}