Laravel How do I return back with SQL errors displayed in HTML?

Question

The problem

I created a constraint in my SQL database to prevent duplicate entries. The initial laravel form submission works fine. I get back the correct message. When I try to throw a duplicate entry, the app, as expected, throws an error.

This is my Controller. A successful form submission does throw the correct error:

$contact->save();

return redirect('contactus.php')->with('status', 'We received your message. We will get back to you soon.');
return back()->withErrors(['Your message may be a duplicate. Did you refresh the page? We blocked that submission. If you feel this was in error, e-mail us or call us.']);

Question

How do I display that error on the HTML screen? Instead of having the page display the following?

Basically the contact form submits information into the database using laravel. When successful, it displays a success message by redirecting it. When not successful, (because of a SQL Unique constraint blocking duplicate entries) so far I've managed to make it throw a SQL error.

How do I display a custom message, like "post not successful, duplicate entry" in that case?

Answer 1

You can do it by using try catch and query exception:

try {
    $contact->save();
    return redirect('contactus.php')->with('status', 'We received your message. We will get back to you soon.');

} catch(\Illuminate\Database\QueryException $e){
    $errorCode = $e->errorInfo[1];
    if($errorCode == '1062'){
       return back()->with('error', 'Your message may be a duplicate. Did you refresh the page? We blocked that submission. If you feel this was in error, e-mail us or call us.');
    }
    else{
     return back()->with('error', $e->getMessage());
    }
}

or another way you can find/check the data first, if already exist just send the error. example:

$contact = Contact::where('email',$request->email)->first();
if($contact)
{
   return back()->with('error', 'Your message may be a duplicate. Did you refresh the page? We blocked that submission. If you feel this was in error, e-mail us or call us.');
}

dont forget to get the error on the form view using like below:

<script>
  @if(session()->has('error'))
    alert('{{session()->get('error')}}')
  @endif
 </script>