Echo php errors through json

Question

Is there a way of echoing syntax errors and other php errors that occur during execution of a script through json?.

Say i have a log in form that submits data through JQuery ajax. By post method.

In my php file i get the values like so $_POST['username']; $_POST['password'];. Then check if the details are correct and echo a json encoded success message or error message if the details are wrong. To that point everything works out fine.

Now if i have a syntax error or any kind of error from php say i did not include a needed file properly in its collect path i do not get any warning : or fatal error: that i would get displayed on my page if do not use json to send data back to my page. This makes debugging hard. I have tried to use try{//code}catch (EXEPTION $e) then including the $e->message(); as part of the json encoded message am returning to my page but it still am am not able to echo the errors. Can someone please help me solve this?

Possible duplicate of [Detect bad json data in PHP json\_decode()?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2348152/detect-bad-json-data-in-php-json-decode) — Ryosaku, Jul 29 '17 at 19:14
I looked at that question and its not solving my problem..i need to echo syntax errors,warnings and fatal errors — pickman murimi, Jul 29 '17 at 19:15
When your development-server is on linux, just run `tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log` or `tail -f /var/log/apache2/error_log` in a seperate window. Saves you the trouble of writing all these extra code for error-reporting for every single AJAX-call — Peter van der Wal, Jul 29 '17 at 19:23
@peter van der wal sad am not on linux. Am running apache on windows is there an equal to that on windows? — pickman murimi, Jul 29 '17 at 19:26
Open PowerShell (included in Windows) and run `Get-Content C:\Path\To\error.log -Last 50 -Wait` — Peter van der Wal, Jul 29 '17 at 19:30
Am using xammp.. And am getting 'get-content ' is not recognized as a command — pickman murimi, Jul 29 '17 at 19:33
PowerShell not the old fashioned command prompt, see [the difference](https://stackoverflow.com/a/30888953/2903251). — Peter van der Wal, Jul 29 '17 at 19:43
@Peter van der wal.. I have correctly configured my power shell i was making some error.. Thenks alot.. Your way works and its simple... If you dont mind add it as an answer to this question — pickman murimi, Jul 29 '17 at 20:02

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 29 '17 at 20:31

Instead of trying to log PHP-errors to JavaScript and output them there, it is much easier to watch the error-log. You can open it in a seperate window, and have it automatically output any new errors appended to the log-file.

On Linux or Mac open a terminal and run

tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log
// Or
tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log
// Depending on your installation, error log may be in a different location

On Windows, open PowerShell (included default in Windows) and run

Get-Content C:\Path\To\error.log -Last 10 -Wait
// Location of the log-file is highly dependent on the used installation

Note that on a production-environment you are encouraged to hide all PHP-error-information to the browser at all (only to the error.log, at most tell your visitor 'Oops, something went wrong'), so writing this extra code for error-handling would be just for the sake of development.

Echo php errors through json

1 Answers1