Logging errors in Laravel

Laravel comes with a really helpful Log::error() function to write messages to the log file. Here’s how you can use it to track PHP and JavaScript errors along with useful contextual information to help troubleshoot problems.

The Log::error() function accepts a second optional parameter allowing you to specify additional info. To make setting this easier create a logError() function in a Utils class.

public static function logError($error, $code = '', $context = 'PHP')
{
	$count = Session::get('error_count', 0);
	Session::put('error_count', ++$count);

	$data = [
		'context' => $context,
		'user_id' => Auth::check() ? Auth::user()->id : 0,
		'user_name' => Auth::check() ? Auth::user()->getDisplayName() : '',
		'url' => Request::url(),
		'user_agent' => isset($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']) ? $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] : '',
		'ip' => Request::getClientIp(),
		'count' => $count,
		'code' => $code
	];

	Log::error($error, $data);
}

Most of the code should be self explanatory. getDisplayName() is a function I add to the User class (as well as other classes) where there is logic involved in determining the name. In this case it may be the user’s full name or email address.

To configure Laravel to use this function by default change the App::error() function in app/start/global.php to the following.

App::error(function(Exception $exception, $code)
{
	Utils::logError($exception, $code);
});

To catch all JavaScript errors enable accessing the Utils::logError() function by adding this to your routes.php file.

Route::get('/log_error', function() 
{
	return Utils::logError(Input::get('error'), '', 'JavaScript');
});

And finally, add the following to function to your master template file.

window.onerror = function(e) {
	try {
		$.ajax({
			type: 'GET',
			url: '{{ URL::to('log_error') }}',
			data: 'error='+e
		});     
	} catch(err) {}
	return false;
}