Play Framework: how to implement proper error handling

Question

I have a Play application with several modules, each of which has its own set of exceptions. Here are three examples:

Module common:

package services.common

trait CommonErrors {

  final case class NotFound(id: String) extends Exception(s"object $id not found")
  final case class InvalidId(id: String) extends Exception(s"$id is an invalid id")
  ...

  // `toJson` is just an extension method that converts an exception to JSON
  def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case NotFound => Results.NotFound(e.toJson)
    case InvalidId => Results.BadRequest(e.toJson)
    case _ => Results.InternalError(e.toJson)
  }
}

Module auth:

package services.auth

trait AuthErrors {

  final case class UserNotFound(e: NotFound) extends Exception(s"user ${e.id} not found")
  final case class UserAlreadyExists(email: String) extends Exception(s"user identified by $email already exists")
  ...

  // `toJson` is just an extension method that converts an exception to JSON
  def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case UserNotFound => Results.NotFound(e.toJson)
    case UserAlreadyExists => Results.BadRequest(e.toJson)
    case _ => Results.InternalError(e.toJson)
  }
}

Module other:

trait OtherErrors {

  final case class AnotherError(s: String) extends Exception(s"another error: $s")
  ...

  // `toJson` is just an extension method that converts an exception to JSON
  def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case AnotherError => Results.BadRequest(e.toJson)
    ...
    case _ => Results.InternalError(e.toJson)
  }
}

As you can see, each attribute defines a set of exceptions and provides a method for converting this exception to a JSON response as follows:

{
  "status": 404,
  "code": "not_found",
  "message": "user 123456789123456789123456 not found",
  "request": "https://myhost.com/users/123456789123456789123456"
}

What I'm trying to achieve is that each module determines its exceptions, reuses those that are defined in the module common, and mixes the characteristics of the attributes as necessary:

object Users extends Controller {

  val errors = new CommonErrors with AuthErrors with OtherErrors {
    // here I have to override `toResult` to make the compiler happy
    override def toResult(e: Exception) = super.toResult
  }

  def find(id: String) = Action { request =>
    userService.find(id).map { user =>
      Ok(success(user.toJson))
    }.recover { case e =>
      errors.toResult(e) // this returns the appropriate result
    }
  }
}

, toResult, super.toResult, , OtherErrors... , , , CommonErrors.toResult.

, - ... : toResult?

Answer 1

Stackable Trait. .toJson .getMessage :

:

trait ErrorsStack {
  def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case _ => Results.InternalServerError(e.getMessage)
  }
}

:

trait CommonErrors extends ErrorsStack {
  case class NotFound(id: String) extends Exception(s"object $id not found")
  case class InvalidId(id: String) extends Exception(s"$id is an invalid id")

  override def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case e: NotFound => Results.NotFound(e.getMessage)
    case e: InvalidId => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
    case _ => super.toResult(e)
  }
}

trait AuthErrors extends ErrorsStack {
  case class UserNotFound(id: String) extends Exception(s"user $id not found")
  case class UserAlreadyExists(email: String) extends Exception(s"user identified by $email already exists")

  override def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case e: UserNotFound => Results.NotFound(e.getMessage)
    case e: UserAlreadyExists => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
    case _ => super.toResult(e)
  }
}

trait OtherErrors extends ErrorsStack {    
  case class AnotherError(s: String) extends Exception(s"another error: $s")

  override def toResult(e: Exception): Result = e match {
    case e: AnotherError => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)

    case _ => super.toResult(e)
  }
}

,

val errors = new CommonErrors with AuthErrors with OtherErrors

import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8
import play.api.libs.iteratee.Iteratee
import concurrent.duration._
import scala.concurrent.Await

def getResult(ex: Exception) = {
  val res = errors.toResult(ex)
  val body = new String(Await.result(res.body.run(Iteratee.consume()), 5 seconds), UTF_8)
  (res.header.status, body)
}

import java.security.GeneralSecurityException

getResult(errors.UserNotFound("Riddle"))
getResult(errors.UserAlreadyExists("Weasley"))
getResult(errors.NotFound("Gryffindor sword"))
getResult(errors.AnotherError("Snape death"))
getResult(new GeneralSecurityException("Marauders map"))

res0: (Int, String) = (404,user Riddle not found)
res1: (Int, String) = (400,user identified by Weasley already exists)
res2: (Int, String) = (404,object Gryffindor sword not found)
res3: (Int, String) = (400,another error: Snape death)
res4: (Int, String) = (500,Marauders map)

, , , :

type Resolver = PartialFunction[Exception, Result]

object ErrorsStack {
  val resolver: Resolver = {
    case e => Results.InternalServerError(e.getMessage)
  }
}

trait ErrorsStack {
  def toResult: Resolver = ErrorsStack.resolver
}

object CommonErrors {
  case class NotFound(id: String) extends Exception(s"object $id not found")
  case class InvalidId(id: String) extends Exception(s"$id is an invalid id")
  val resolver: Resolver = {
    case e: NotFound => Results.NotFound(e.getMessage)
    case e: InvalidId => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
  }
}

trait CommonErrors extends ErrorsStack {
  override def toResult = CommonErrors.resolver orElse super.toResult
}

object AuthErrors {
  case class UserNotFound(id: String) extends Exception(s"user $id not found")
  case class UserAlreadyExists(email: String) extends Exception(s"user identified by $email already exists")
  val resolver: Resolver = {
    case e: UserNotFound => Results.NotFound(e.getMessage)
    case e: UserAlreadyExists => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
  }
}

trait AuthErrors extends ErrorsStack {
  override def toResult = AuthErrors.resolver orElse super.toResult
}

object OtherErrors {
  case class AnotherError(s: String) extends Exception(s"another error: $s")

  val resolver: Resolver = {
    case e: AnotherError => Results.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
  }
}

trait OtherErrors extends ErrorsStack {
  override def toResult = OtherErrors.resolver orElse super.toResult
}