Best way to handle errors on a php page?

Question

Right now my pages look something like this:

if($_GET[\'something\'] == \'somevalue\')
{
    $output .= \'somecode\';

    // make a DB query, fetch a row
           


        

Answer 1

If you're searching for a code structure which will look pretty and will work - you could use the whitelist method I always use. For example - validating a $_GET variable:

$error = false;

if(!isset($_GET['var'])) 
{
    $error = 'Please enter var\'s value';
}
elseif(empty($_GET['var'])) 
{
    $error = 'Var shouldn\'t be empty';
}
elseif(!ctype_alnum($_GET['var'])) 
{
    $error = 'Var should be alphanumeric';
}

//if we have no errors -> proceed to db part
if(!$error) 
{
    //inserting var into database table
}

So, this is it , just 2 if/elseif blocks, without nesting